Tsubasa Shadow Chronicles
by JadeOccelot
Summary: After defeating the Metarex and sacrificing himself to save everyone, Shadow finds himself traveling the dimensions with complete strangers while trying to discover his past and find the one who stole his memories. Will discovering the truth cost him everything he has left, or will these people he's traveling with become something more to him.
1. Prologue: Ones's Journey End

Tsubasa Shadow Chronicles

Prologue: One's Journeys End

"Chaos Regeneration!" With those words Super Sonic and Super Shadow flew towards the now dying Planet Egg to finish the job and defeat the Metarex once and for all and maybe even save a save life. Everyone one of them from Sonic's gang and even Eggman has been traveling the galaxy to find the Chaos Emeralds and stop the Metarex from destroying all non-plant life in the universe and the final battle was drawing to a close but at the cost of one's life, Cosmo. No one wanted her die, even Shadow wished there had been another way, but this was what she wanted, her wish was to stop the Metarex and even though it was hard he, Sonic, Tails and everyone helped grant her wish and hopefully with Chaos Regeneration they might be able to save her. Once Chaos Regeneration had be used up however he immediately sensed something was wrong and quickly realized that the pressure surrounding the Planet Egg would soon explode, sending out all it's power and destroying anything in its path, including everyone on the Blue Typhoon and Crimson Egg! Sonic must have realized it as well.

"If the Planet Egg lets out all of its energy the others won't have time to get away! I have no other choice! Chaos-!" Shadow knew what Sonic was about to do and he couldn't have that!

_'Oh no you don't!'_ Shadow launched his fist into Sonic's abdomen hard enough to knock all of the air out of him, Sonic didn't see it coming so he couldn't stop Shadow. Before he lost his ability to move Sonic managed to say his last words to him when he realized what Shadow planned to do.

"Sha..Shadow..hold on.. you can't..." with that Sonic fall away from the Planet Egg and out of harms way. Shadow watched him fall and replied to his descending form while removing his inhibitor rings.

"Don't be angry, I didn't have any other choice either. After all we wouldn't want you to hurt yourself now would we?" _'And besides you have people to protect and who care about you, you can't let them down.'_ He left the last part unspoken, there was no need to say it. It was true that if Sonic died he would not only be greatly missed but there be no one left to stop any other dangers that might appear in the future, while it would be different in his case. Also, he had better control over Chaos than Sonic.

_'Now before this burst.'_ Shadow summoned every ounce of power and energy left in him to stop the Planet Egg and save the others.

"CHAOS CONTROL!" With that Shadow teleported the entire Planet Egg a massive distance away from the others and stopped time around it to prevent the energy from escaping. _'They're safe now, it's over.'_ Shadow suddenly felt extremely weak. It wasn't like the other times he used up too much of his energy, those times he knew that still had enough left to live, this time however he used it all in this final Chaos Control. He could feel the Chaos Energy leave him as he floated away into deep space. He was about to shut his eyes and accept his fate when he saw what looked like a rift in space opening up not far from him. _'What is that?'_ As the rift expanded he could barely make out a large figure inside the rift and bore what appeared to be a symbol of a bat on his chest. The figure appeared to be reaching towards him, Shadow immediately had the instinct to stay away from the rift and the figure inside.

"You're not getting away this time Shadow." he was shocked to hear that this figure knew him, but what did him mean that he won't be getting away from him THIS time? As far as he knew he never met this person, or had he? Before Shadow could even attempt to reply, out of the rift came out what appear to be black mist as it solidify and began heading straight for him. Shadow tried to move but was too weak to even move his head and he could only watch as the solid mist closed in on him.

_'This is how it ends? No! I don't want it to end like this! Not yet! I still have to find what I lost!'_ Shadow had no idea where that thought came from, he had been ready to die just seconds before why the sudden change to live? Right before the black mist reached him he felt a new energy from within appear, coursing through and out of him in a burst of pure, white energy that kept the mist at bay. _'What the?!'_ Shadow had no idea what this energy was, it wasn't Chaos Energy yet it felt familiar none the less like it's always been there.

"Not again! You will not escape!" more mist came out of the rift towards Shadow and he knew that this time this new energy won't be able to hold them all back. Suddenly he felt the energy turn take on a new action and a pinkish-violet aura appeared around as the space around him started to swirl around him, turning into different colors as it wrapped around him, but unlike the black mist this aura was comforting, warm, and safe. As the colors completely enclosed him he felt himself lose consciousness, but before his world faded into black he heard a voice of what sounded like a young girl say

_"You know...everything will be alright."_


	2. Chapter 1: A New Journey Begins

**Tsubasa Shadow Chronicles**

**Chapter 1: A New Journey Begins**

The scent of burning incense broke through the darkness causing Shadow to start coming around. As his senses returned to him he felt himself not on cold metal of the capsule on the Doctor's ship, but the soft comforts of a bed. After struggling to open his eyes for a minute he finally managed to open them, though it took another moment for his vision to adjust once he did he could see he was in a large bed and around the bed were see through curtains with butterflies embroidered in them.

_'Where am I'_ it took a moment to realize that something was grasping his left hand. He looked over to his left and was more than surprised at the sight he saw. A yellow female hedgehog wearing a jean skirt, a white shirt, blue shorts beneath the skirt and blue boots with a matching jacket, that appeared to be around his age was asleep leaning on the bedside holding his hand. _'What the!? Who is she?'_ Shadow could only stare in shock, he had no clue how to react to this. She must have sensed him wake up for she started to wake up as well, she opened her eyes half way but fully opened them when she saw that he was awake.

"Oh! You're awake, I was starting to wonder when you would wake. How are you feeling?" she quickly said, she realized she was holding his hand and quickly but gently let go. "Sorry about that." It took a second for Shadow to reply.

"No it's okay and to answer your question I still feel tired. Now you tell me who you are and where am I?" Shadow saw what appeared to be a hurt look on her face but it quickly disappeared as she smiled and answered. "It's not surprising you'll still weak after what you went through to get here and all and my name is Maria." Maria, he heard that name before but it could be a common name yet it felt like it should mean something. Shadow focused back on her.

"What is here?" before Maria could reply a new voice cut in.

"This is a store. A shop were wishes are granted." both Shadow and Maria looked back to see a young human woman with long black hair, reddish-brown eyes, and pale skin, wearing a red kimono with a flower pattern. She walked up behind Maria and placed her hand on her shoulder and said to her. "Thank you dear, I'll tell him what he needs to know. Why don't you get something to eat you've been here for quite sometime now." Maria nodded before standing up.

"Thank you." Maria looked back at Shadow and smiled before leaving him and this woman alone.

"Who are you?" Shadow asked.

"Quick to get to the point aren't you?" asked the woman with a smile that he didn't trust, before Shadow could say anything she continued on "My name is Yuko Ichihara, I'm the owner of this shop."

"You said this place grants wishes, what does that mean?"

"Its just as I said, we grant wishes here for a suitable price and you being able to be here means that you have wish." _'Being able to be here?' What does she mean by that? And a suitable price?'_ as those thoughts went through head a new thought came. He did have a wish and if what she was saying was true than maybe.

"You can really grant any wish?" he asked.

"If it's within this shop's power and for the right price, yes." came her reply. _'Hmmm, might as well ask.'_

"Then can you have my memories restored?" Since he had first woken up on Eggman's ship he has been unable to remember anything from before, nothing about his past, where he came from, or if he knew anyone from before. This could finally be his chance to recover his past. Yuko was silent before saying what he had hoped not to hear.

"I can't grant you that wish." Shadow didn't realize that his hopes were up till she said that.

"But I thought you could grant any wish, that was what you were saying right?"

"I said if it was within my power and for the right price I could grant your wish. The reason I cannot grant this wish is because you're not suffering from amnesia, where you simple can't access your memories and in time would return, your memories have been taken from you. They are no longer part of you."

"WHAT?!" Taken from him! Someone had to nerve to steal his memories, his past from him without him knowing!? Shadow clutched his hands in anger as Yuko continued.

"I cannot get your memories back for the one who has them for that person is hidden somewhere in another world." Shadow looked back her when she said that."

"Another world? You mean another planet?" he didn't remember seeing a planet near the Planet Egg, but he did transport it far from the others so maybe he was near a planet when he lost consciousness.

"No, I mean another dimension entirely." _'Another dimension?! How will I ever get my memories back then?'_ he had no way travel dimensions, unless.

"Can you grant a different wish then?"

"To grant you the ability to cross dimension to find your memories?" she asked with a knowing smile. He couldn't help but wonder how she knew what he was going to ask. "I can grant that wish." Shadow almost let out a sigh of relief before he remember the other part of the deal.

"What's the price for that wish?" Yuko smiled.

"You have a good memory, most people would have forgotten about the price by now. And normally to pay the price by one's self is too high, but paid together with others is enough to cover the price."

"Others?"

"Yes, your wish requires you to travel many worlds to find the one who has your memories and in order to be able to do that you'll have to travel with the others who also need to travel dimensions. Each will pay for their share of the price as well."

"So to travel to other worlds I have to travel with strangers and pay a price of my own?" Shadow asked to make sure he got it right.

"That is correct, keep in mind I can only grant you the means to travel worlds, finding your memories will be up to you," Yuko answered. Shadow thought it over. This could be his only chance to find his memories and discover his past and he wasn't about to pass it up.

"Alright, what is my price then?"

"Your price would be your inhibitor rings," Shadow looked down at his wrists to see his rings were back on, these rings kept his power in check and kept him from losing too much energy plus one of these rings were his only link from his past, could he really give them up? "The price to travel worlds is what you value most, nothing more and nothing less will work. You won't die if you give them up, though you will have to be more careful on how you use your energy to keep from exhaustion yourself. I won't take them now but when you leave if you choose to go on this journey." Shadow was silent for a moment trying to decide what to do. Finally he made his choice.

"Alright, I'll pay the price. I will find the one who took my memories and discover my past!"

"I like your attitude, you'll need it for the journey ahead. For now you should rest and regain your strength, they will arrive by the time you recovered." Yuko said as she turned to leave so he could rest. He started to close his eyes when he thought of something.

"This place, I'm not in the same dimension I was before am I? He asked. Yuko looked back him and answered.

"That is correct."

"How?"

"Try not to worry about too much, you're coming here was "hitsuzen." _'Hitsuzen? What does that mean? What does she know?'_ before Shadow could think more of it he closed his eyes and fell into a deep sleep.

* * *

A week has passed since Shadow woke up in Yuko's shop, by now he's managed to recover all of strength and met the others living there. The twins Maru and Moro who took the phase 'like a shade in a mirror' to the point were it was almost scary at times, Watanuki who said was tricked into working at Yuko's shop and thought Shadow was a spirit at first for some reason, and Maria was also staying at Yuko's shop for a certain time and helped around the shop as payment for being able to stay though how long her stay was she wouldn't tell him, even after she got over her embarrassment of being caught holding his hand while he was asleep when he first arrived even after he told her it was okay. Now he was waiting for the people he would be traveling with to arrive. Shadow had confirmed the fact that he was in another dimension and not in the one where Sonic and the others were or the world Chris is from. Maria had told him this planet had not seen life from other planets, humans were the dominant species here and no one had heard of the Metarex or Sonic the Hedgehog, but that left him with the question of not only how he got to this world but Maria as well. She was a hedgehog like him so she wasn't from this world either.

While trying to figure out how he got here he and everyone were outside the shop, he sat under a tree while the girls were being served tea made by Watanuki. His thoughts were broken when he heard Watanuki shout.

"THAT IS WHAT I CALL A _HUGE_ ULTERIOR MOTIVE!" By now he had also learned more about Yuko. While she appeared to be serious and all knowing at times she also had a mischievous, wild and dare he say playful personality, this side was seen often when she ordered Watanuki to cook all kinds of meals, all with lots of sake, difficult chores and anything in general. He had to admit it was amusing to watch his reactions at times and he had the feeling Yuko thought the same thing which was why she continue to do what she did. She also gave cryptic answers not only to Watanuki, but to him as well, he felt that she knew how he got here but she wasn't saying anything. His thoughts were broken once more when he felt a rain drop hit his nose. He looked up to see it was sunny yet it was starting to rain. He wasn't the only one to notice for he heard Watanuki say

"How come all this rain is falling on a sunny day?" they both turned to to yuko when she spoke.

"The Fox Spirit, Kitsune, takes a bride.

"Fox Spirit?" asked Watanuki.

"It's a phrase for rain on a clear day. On a day like this one could do a "kyoochoo." Shadow watched Yuko explained it was a type of divination and instructed Watanuki how hear a omen on a day like this. Suddenly he heard a voice say

_"Today I'll be there. Prepare and wait."_

"What the?" He looked around but didn't see anyone new but he did see that he wasn't the only one that heard it, for it seemed that the others heard it as well.

"I see. It's today." Yuko said as she got up. "We have to prepare. Prepare for their coming. Shadow. Maria. You both better prepare as well." Shadow was confused at first but than it hit him.

"You mean the others arrive today?" he asked.

"Yes, today you two will leave on your journey." Yuko said as she headed inside.

"Wait a minute, you're coming too Maria?" he asked as he moved from the tree towards her.

"Ah, yes I'll be going with you." she said with a sheepish smile.

"Why didn't you say anything?

"You asked when I was leaving and I didn't know till now, same as you."

_'She has me there.'_

"But why are you-" he then noticed that Maria had disappeared inside the shop. "Hey!"

* * *

In a short time both Shadow and Maria were ready, Shadow and Maria didn't have any material possessions so they were already to go. Finally Yuko came out of the shop wearing a dress of a foreign design.

"Yuko? What's with all the get up?" asked Watanuki. Yuko simply replied.

"I'm prepared for the children to come." before Watanuki could ask what she meant they all heard a sound coming from the sky. "Here they come."

They all looked up and Shadow was genuinely shocked to the sky stretch down towards them and lands right before Yuko, it suddenly burst and inside were a human boy, only a few years older than Chris appearance wise, holding on tightly to a human girl in his arms about the same age. The boy looked up Yuko and asked in a almost desperate tone.

"Are you the Space-Time Witch?"

"I have been called that."

"WOULD YOU PLEASE, I NEED YOU TO SAVE SAKURA!"

"This child's name is Sakura?" asked Yuko as she approached them.

"Yes!"

"And you?"

"I'm Syaoran."

Yuko knelt down next to the girl, which Shadow assumed was Sakura, and touched her forehead with a finger, after a moment she says that the girl has lost something very precious, the boy now known as Syaoran confirmed it, Yuko continued and said that is has been scattered throughout many different worlds and if nothing was done she would die. Syaoran looked heartbroken and hugged the girl tighter to him.

During this Shadow managed to get a better view of them. Syaoran had brown, face-length hair and eyes and olive-brown skin, wore a dark green cloak, a pair of goggles around his neck, black tank top, gloves, and boots and tan pants. Sakura on the other hand had strawberry blond hair that reached her chin though two strands of hair reached down to her shoulders, a white crop-top that hanged off her shoulders with a reddish-pink strip bouldering the top and thinner line the bottom and a large blue gem in the center with three smaller ones at the bottom of the larger gem, and split-opened white skirt that opens at the front to revile pants with a sash at the front with the same markings as her shirt, and Shadow could tell just by looking at her that something was serious wrong with her, she was hardly breathing and if he didn't know any better it looked as though her body was lack for a better term empty. Yuko then told Watanuki to get something from the treasure room. Yuko then turned her attention back to Syaoran and asked if he wished to save the girl he immediately said yes.

"There is a price. Are still willing?

"I will pay any price I can!"

Shadow noticed that since these two arrived Maria has moved closer to them to see if they were alright. In the time he had known her he knew she was the kind of person that worried about others when they were hurt whether she knew them or not, he assumed it was the same with himself. Syaoran must have only just now noticed her for a shocked expression appeared on his face from seeing her and realizing he was here as well. _'Must not have seen anyone like us before.'_

"I'm sorry I didn't mean to startle you," Maria quickly said as she bowed her head in apology.

"N- no I'm sorry," Syaoran said just as quickly. Before either one could say anything else a familiar sound ringed out.

"Here they come," said Yuko. Shadow, Maria, and Syaoran looked to their sides to see two bubbles, the same that Syaoran and Sakura came in, appear one from above and one from the ground opening up to reveal two human men. One of them was dressed in white, long, winter coat trimmed with fur, holding a staff with blue crystals, and though his hood was up Shadow could see he had short, wavy, blond hair and blue eyes.

The other was the opposite, dressed in black wearing some kind of armor on his torso, a cape, some kind of red headgear, holding an unsheathed sword on his shoulders. He had black, spiky hair and Shadow was surprise to see that he had red eyes like him, he also saw some blood on his cheek but didn't see a cut on his face.

Then at the same time but in different tones asked who Yuko was. The guy in white asked if she was the Dimension Witch while the guy in black simple asked who the hell she was. They looked at each other though the man in black mostly glared. Before giving them an answer Yuko said.

"Please give me your names first." The man in black answered,

"Me? I'm Kurogane. I mean what is this place?"

"It's called Japan."

Eh? My country's called Japan too."

"Yes. A different Japan.

"I'm not getting any of this! Not one bit."

Yuko then turned to the man in white. "And you?" the man bowed and said.

"The Wizard of Seresu. Fai D. Flowright

"Do you know where you are?"

"Yes, a place where any wish can be granted if a suitable price is paid."

_'That's a first, someone came knowing exactly what this place was.'_ thought Shadow.

"That's exactly is. And so the reason why all of you are here is because each of you has a wish."

The men known as Fai and Kurogane both said their wishes at the same, both beginning the same but ending differently, Kurogane's wish was to go back to his home world while Fai's wish was not to return to his home world. Kurogane once more glared at Fai.

"That is a tall order for both of you. No. For all five of you. Perhaps even if you offered the most precious things you own. None of you has enough to pay. But if all five paid together, you may just able to afford it"

_'This is want I've been waiting for.'_ thought Shadow.

"What kind of crap are you sprouting?" Shadow heard Kurogane said. Fai decided to be the first to speak up to him.

"Mr. Black can you keep your insults down?

"I'M NOT "MR. BLACK!" he yelled at Fai who merely covered his ears and turned his head the other way.

"Please don't yell," Maria said politely. The two man turned to her for the first time both with expressions similar to Syaoran when he saw her.

"What are you?" said Kurogane, before Maria could answer Shadow decided to make himself known.

"She and I are hedgehogs and her name is Maria," he said in a defensive tone.

_'I'm going be traveling the worlds with these guys?'_ Shadow asked himself in disbelief. Before things could even start to get out of hand Yuko continued.

"All five of your wishes are the same." To each she restated their wishes

"You want to go to many worlds in order to restore the memory of this child."

"You want to return to your own world."

"You want to go to different worlds to avoid returning to your own."

"You want to go to other worlds to find what was taken from you."

"You want to travel the worlds to protect someone you have lost." Shadow look towards at Maria when he heard her wish and noticed she had a sad look on her face.

"You have different reasons, but the method is the same. Travel to different dimensions, that is what you need. Each of you individually cannot make that wish happen. However if the five of you combine payment for one wish, then you can afford it."

"Then what would my payment be?" asked Kurogane. He did not like her answer.

"Your sword."

"WHA!? I'd never sell away Ginryu!" Yuko just as quickly replied.

"Fine! Instead you will wander this world looking like a costume-contest loser, and get picked up by the police for carrying an unlawful sword, and get plastered all over the TV for being a freak! Is that what you want?" She said all that while poking him in the chest. The world Kurogane was from obviously didn't have these things back in his world for he was confused about what the police and TV were. "You realize that you are trapped here, and I am the only person in the world who can get you out? Shadow could tell she was having fun.

"THAT GOT TO BE A LIE!" shouted Kurogane.

"Sadly it isn't, if it was I wouldn't still be here," said Shadow. Kurogane looked at him with disbelief.

"You're kidding!"

"I wish."

"What will you do?" Yuko asked though she seemed to know what he'll do since she was holding her hand out.

"DAMMIT!" Kurogane furiously sheathed his sword and handed it to the Yuko. "When I am free from this curse. I'm coming back for it!" His sword starts to float as Yuko accepts it, she then turns to Fai and names his price.

"Your price is your marking." Fai looked surprised and reluctant to hand it over and tried to barter his staff instead but Yuko said it won't do, it had to be what he valued most. A worried look appeared on his face but was quickly replaced with a smile saying that he guessed he didn't have a choice. With that a large tattoo pattern appeared from his back and floated next to the sword. She turned to Shadow next.

"Now for your payment." Shadow sighed before twisting the rings off his wrists and handed them to Yuko. She turned to Maria but instead of taking anything she simply said.

"I've already received your payment." They all looked at Maria who had a sad expression on her face before replacing it with s small smile. Yuko finally turned to last to who had yet to pay, Syaoran and Sakura.

"What about you? Now is the time to hand over your item of highest value. And you will be able to travel the worlds."

"Fine!" Syaoran quickly said.

"You realize that I haven't name the price yet."

"Yes!"

"The only things I can do is send you to other words. Find the child's memories is something you will have to do." Syaoran didn't even hesitant to answer.

"Fine!"

"I like your attitude." Yuko said with a small smile as she looked back at the shop. Shadow turned to see Watanuki, followed by Maru and Moro, coming back carrying two small creatures in his arms, one black and the other white. Shadow didn't recognize any species they could be but if he had to guess they looked like some sort of rabbit. "Thank you Watanuki" she said to him as she took the white creature in her arms, to them she said.

"The name of this young one is Mokona Modoki. Mokona will lead you through the worlds." The black one in Watanuki's arms waved at them and Kurogane saw it.

"Hey, you got an extra. Give it to me. I'll go home with that."

"No, that's how we keep in contact. The only power this one has is to stay in communication with Mokona. See how useful." she said as she pointed to each Mokona. "Mokona will take you do different dimensions, but there is no way to control which dimension. For that reason, only fate will decide when your wishes will be granted. However, there is no coincidence in the world. What is there is "hitsuzen." And what brought you together was also "hitsuzen." Then she finally named Syaoran's price.

"Syaoran your price is your relationship. The thing you value the most is your relationship with her. So that is your price."

_'His relationship?!'_ Shadow didn't even know that could be a price, let alone how he'll pay it. Syaoran must have been thinking the same thing for he spoke his thoughts out loud.

"My price? But how-" Yuko interrupted to explain.

"Even if this child's memories are completely restored your relationship with her will never be the same again. So what is she to you?" Syaoran looked down at Sakura, shut his eyes, tighten his grip even more and answered.

"A childhood friend, and the princess of a country, and a girl who is precious to me!" With a look of sympathy Yuko continued.

"I see. However if you want to accept Mokona. That relationship will end. Even if you retrieve all of her memories the one memory that you will never retrieve will be her memory of you. That is my price.

Will you still pay it?" They watched Syaoran waiting to hear what his choice will.

"Let's go." he looked back up with a look of pure determination. "I will not let Sakura die!" With his answer Yuko once more answered them with what they will need to know.

"Travel between worlds is more difficult than you imagine. There are wide variety of worlds. For example" She turned her head to Fai and Kurogane. "The worlds these two come from." then to Shadow and Maria. "And these two as well. You can tell just from clothes and appearance, can't you? They all came from different worlds than yours. People you know, people you've met on your world. They've developed under completely different conditions on other worlds. You may meet different versions of the same person time after time on different worlds. And just because that person is nice to you one world doesn't mean you will find an ally on the next. You'll find worlds where you can't communicate, where even common sense doesn't work. Scientific development, standards of living, laws... All change with the world. There are worlds full of criminals, worlds of liars, worlds locked in constant wars and you must live through them all. It will be a journey in which you won't know where you are nor how close are to collecting all the fractured pieces of memory. That said are you still determined to see it through?" She asked Syaoran for the final time though Shadow knew just as well as she did what his answer will be. He wasn't disappointed.

"Yes!"

"Sincerity and determination. No matter what a person wants to attempt, those are needed and it seems that you are well provided with both. And so." Suddenly the white Mokona floated up in the air and huge white feathered wings appeared from it's back, and magic circle appears below it and just as shocking it opened it's mouth to an impossible length and started to inhale them. "You may go!"

They all tense up but got sucked up anyway, colors once more surrounding them. Once everyone was inside Mokona closed it's mouth and disappeared into a mist up towards the sky. Once they were gone the rain stopped, Yuko looked up and said.

"I wish you five the best of fortune on your journey."


	3. Chapter 2: The First World

**Tsubasa Shadow Chronicles**

**Chapter 2: The First World**

_"Help the boy find what he desires and you'll find what you desire." That was what Yuko told him the day before. He had asked how he'll be able to find the one who has his memories but instead of giving him a straight answer she gave him a cryptic one instead. Before it didn't make sense, but now that he met the others that he'll be traveling with could she have been talking about Syaoran and his wish to find the girl's memories?_

Shadow finally managed to open his eyes to see that he was in a small room, though he didn't remember falling asleep.

"Good, you're awake." Shadow turned to see Maria sitting on her knees next to him, he looked around to see Fai, who had taken off his coat, crouching down next to Syaoran and Sakura, both asleep though the girl looked more pale if that was possible, out of the corner of his eye he saw Kurogane sitting in a corner. Suddenly he felt something land on his head and he looked up to see Mokona who appeared to look back at him though it was hard to tell since its eyes were closed.

"Puu!" it said as it rubbed a small towel on his forehead.

"What are you doing?" he asked.

"Mokona is drying everyone off so no one gets a cold." it answered before jumping off and moving on to dry off Syaoran. From the sound of its voice he guessed Mokona was a girl. Shadow turned to Maria and asked "How long was I out?"

"Not that long, we haven't been here for long." she answered. Before Shadow asked where here was a yell rang out.

"SAKURA!" he turned to see that Syaoran had woken up, he looked around for a second to see Sakura was still in his arms.

"We tried to dry her off. She got pretty wet in the rain." Maria explained.

"Mokona dried too!" Mokona put in.

"Yes you did, you're very helpful Mokona," Maria said with a smile.

"Yeah! Mokona was praised!" Mokona said as she jumped happily.

"Even while you slept, you wouldn't let the girl go." said Fai. "So you're...er.." Fai stutter but his smile didn't falter.

"Call me Syaoran." he answered.

"My name is pretty long so you can call me Fai." said Fai before turning towards Kurogane. "and, Mr. Black over there. What'll we call you?" Hearing that name again obviously angered him for he yelled.

"I am NOT "Mr. Black"! I'm Kurogane" during his yelling he didn't notice Mokona hop over and pulp herself down on his lap. "You ..Thing! Don't get comfortable there!"

"Kurogane, huh?" Fai appears to think the name over. "So what works? Kuro-chan? Kurorin?"

"It's Kurogane!" Fai ignored him and turned his attention to Shadow and Maria.

"Now what about you two? What are your names?"

"I'm Maria."

"I'm Shadow, Shadow the Hedgehog and don't even think about giving me any weird names."

"Okay, how about Shade or Shady then since they're different versions of your name?" asked Fai with a smile.

_'Dam it! I gave him ammunition'_ Shadow could only hope this is as far as it would go. He heard Maria giggle causing him to glare at her. She stops.

"Sorry." she bowed her head apologetically, this caused Shadow to feel bad for some odd reason. Before he could say anything though Fai suddenly reached in Syaoran's cloak causing him to yell and turning everyone's attention towards them. _'What the?!'_

"What do you think you're doing?!" said Kurogange, voicing what the others were thinking as well.

Fai pulled out a white feather with red markings that formed a heart on it and asked "Is this what a piece of memory looks like for this child?" Syaoran looked surprised but happy at the same time, probably wondering how he didn't noticed it before. "It was stuck to you. Only one though." the feather suddenly floated towards the girls' chest and was absorbed into her body. Shadow could immediately see the difference for some color returned to her skin and seemed to breath more.

"Her body is a littler warmer," he heard Syaoran say.

"If you haven't had that feather, it might have been a problem." said Fai.

_'That's putting it lightly.'_ thought Shadow, without that feather it was most likely that she would have died before the kid could even found a feather but he knew better than to say it out loud.

"By coincidence, one stuck to my clothes," Syaoran said with a sigh of relief.

"There is no coincidence in the world," said Fai. "That's what the witch said, wasn't it?"

"It was, she said there is only "Hitsuzen," said Maria before explaining what "Hitsuzen" was. "A naturally foreordained event. A state in which other outcomes are impossible. A result which can only be obtained by a single causality, and other causalities would necessarily create different results."

"So it would have happened regardless of anything else trying to interfere or change it?" asked Shadow to make sure he understood it, he had wondered what "Hitsuzen" was and what it meant. _'She said that my arrival at the shop was "Hitsuzen", does that mean I was meant to go on this journey no matter what happened before hand?'_

"Pretty much," said Maria.

"So.." Fai started, "My guess is that without thinking, you grabbed it yourself. In order to save the girl." He looked towards Maria. "Right?"

"I think so, I don't understand "Hitsuzen" nearly as well as she does."

"But how do we find more? I doubt we'll find anymore on us," asked Shadow, if he understood what Yuko told him correctly then finding the feathers would eventually lead him to the one who stole his memories. He then noticed something white climb up Fai before jumping and saying "Mokona knows!" she then jumped onto Syaoraon before continuing, "That feather gave out really big waves! So when a feather is close, Mokona will feel the big waves!" Mokona jumped and spinned before suddenly opening her eyes really big and said "Mokona will be like THIS!" Needless to say it's sudden action startled Shadow and the others, though each had a different reaction. Shadow, not expecting that at all, almost fell flat on his back, Maria fell halfway back before Shadow caught her, Kurogane let out a small yell of shock with a equal expression on his face, Syaoran appeared to freeze for a second, while Fai merely smiled appearing that not shocked at all.

"Well it looks like we have a way. If we get close to a feather, Mokona will let us know," said Fai.

"Would you do that?" Syaoran asked Mokona, "Tell us when we're near a feather?"

"Leave it to Mokona!" she said as she proudly put it's paw to her chest in a salute.

"Thank you."

"Search or don't search. That's up to you." They all turned to the new speaker, Kurogane. "It's got nothing to do with me. I'm here to get back to my own world. That's the only reason I'm here. Don't expect me to stick my neck out for you. Don't expect me to help you. I won't do it!" This didn't seem to faze Syaoran for he responded by saying.

"Right, this is my mission here. I'll do my best not to cause you any trouble." His answer appeared take Kurogane aback and he wasn't the only one for Shadow was also surprised by what Syaoran said. Everyone he knew up till this point has almost always tried to get others, mainly him, to help them in their goal even if it wasn't for themselves but for others or some "greater good", so hearing this kid who wanted to save someone who meant everything to him not to only try not to drag others into this but even claimed that he won't try to get in their way was surprising but in a good way for here was someone who was determined do what he must even if it meant doing it on his own. Syaoran unknowingly just gained a little of Shadow's respect, not that he'll admit that out loud. _'Guess there's more to humans than they show,'_

Fai laughs out loud. "Syaoran you're so serious." causing Syaoran to look at him with a puzzled look. Kurogane then turned his attention to Fai.

"What about you?

"Mm?"

"Are you going to help the brat out?" Fai seemed to thought about for a moment,

"Hmmm I suppose so. My most important mission is to not return to my world. So, if it doesn't threaten my life." Fai paused for a second as if he remembered something then continued, "Sure, I'll help out. I've got nothing better to do." Kurogane than looked at Shadow and Maria to hear what they were going to do.

"Well I don't know when I'll be able to fulfill my wish, so I guess I'll help," said Maria.

"I have to find the feathers to get what I want," said Shadow. He noticed a protective look appear on Syaoran's face as his hold on the girl tighten. "Don't worry kid it's not the feathers I want, they're just suppose to eventually lead me to someone who has something of mine."

"The witch did say you were traveling to find something that was taken from you, what are you looking for?" asked Fai. Shadow didn't answer and before anyone could say anything else,

"Yo!" the door to the room opened and everyone's attention turned to see a man and woman enter each carrying something. "So you're all awake now! Hey no need to get all tense! You came from Yuko's right?"

"Yuko?" asked Syaoran. Shadow was confused for moment at the kid's question but then remembered that the others besides Maria didn't seem to know Yuko's name.

"You know the Girl Witch, the Dimension Witch, the Far East Witch, she has a lot of names."

Shadow noticed the woman hand Syaoran a blanket for Sakura while the man introduce himself. "I'm Sorata Arisugawa."

"I'm Arashi," she said as she handed cups of what appeared to be tea to everyone.

"Just to let you know, she's my wife and the woman I love. I call her my "Honey"! Just make sure you've burned that into your hearts." said Sorata with a look of what Shadow assumed to be love before addressing Kurogane personally. "By which I mean that if you lay a finger on her, you'll die horribly.

"WHY DO YOU SAY THAT ONLY TO ME?!"

"Nori! Nori! Nori is live!" he simply said before adding while giving him a thumbs up, "But I wasn't kidding!"

"I WON'T TOUCH HER!" Sorata then picked up Mokona and asked.

"I figure you went to the witch lady, and got this from her to get to here, right?"

"Mokona Modoki!"

"I heard the whole story man and girl there. I mean the blonde guy. Mr. Black is too mean to ask."

"Shut up!"

"Anyway, this is your lucky day."

"In what way?" asked Shadow.

"Mokona has no ideal which is the next world right? So, it's a happy chance that brought you t this world first." Sorata said as he crossed the room and opened a window to revile a large modern city, "Because this is the Hanshin Republic!"

* * *

A puppet version of Sorata appeared in front of map of this world and a chart and started to explain the facts of the Hanshin Republic.

"This is the Hanshin Republic. The best of island nations. We're surrounded by seas on all sides. We get the odd hurricane, but we hardly ever have earthquakes. We have several trading partners across the seas, and we export like crazy!" Moving to the chart which lists the seasons he pointed to fall and continued, "We have four seasons. Right now we're in fall, "The season when rice tastes best! The main staple is wheat flour. And our sauce is famous!" Puppet Sorata suddenly donned a graduation cap and continued with the lesson. "We have the Hanshin Republic Constitution and Law! And by that law we never make wars with other countries!" removing the cap he moved on, "For modes of transportation we have cars, bicycles, motorcycles," as he named each one he moved closer to a puppet version of Arashi. "boats, trains, planes, and one might consider a baby carriage a mode of transport too, right Honey?" Puppet Arashi remained silent. Puppet Sorata then moved on to the map that showed a Island in the shape of a tiger. "The shape is the Island is thus. Because of the similarity to the to the tiger, people call us the Tiger Country. Of course the Hanshin Republic uses the tiger image quite a bit. Our currency is called the koko (tiger), the head of the tiger is the symbol of our country, and it's also the logo for or baseball team!" before he could continue with the teams statues Fai raised his hand.

"Sir. I have a question!"

Puppet Sorata pointed at him with his pointer he had been using "Yes, Fai?"

"Does everyone in your country have the same accent as you?"

Sorata, the person not the puppet, said "My accent is unique to me because I speak in an older version of our language." This seemed to caught Syaoran's attention for he asked.

"Yours is a language used in the past?"

"Correct! Now days hardly anyone uses this language. I'm a history teacher so I'm against allowing the old ways to fade away."

"You're a history teacher?"

"I take it you have an interest in history?"

"Yes, in my world I used to work on archaeological digs."

Shadow was starting to zone out. While he admitted that the information about the country may prove useful in finding one of the girl's feathers, this however was not. He looked to see that Maria was looking tired though she tried her best to hide it, Kurogane however appeared to have dozed off in the corner. As Shadow started to zone off even more he did hear Sorata say that this place was a traditional apartment house that they managed. Sorata must have noticed Kuroganes asleep in the back for the next thing Shadow heard was,

"You! Wake up!" Shadow looked back in time to see something hit Kurogane in the back of the head.

"WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT!?" he yelled as he jumped and moved away from the corner. He wasn't the only one who reacted. Shadow immediately got up in a defensive position, Fai and Maria had also quickly moved to their feet, while Syaoran moved his body over Sakura as a shield. "I didn't sense an enemy, who did that!?" He turned to Sorata with an accusing glare, "You threw something didn't you?"

For once Fai had a serious experssion as he said, "You were in a corner, if he threw anything it would have to had come from above."

Sorata looked bewildered at them, "What? It was my kudan, what else?"

"Kudan?" everyone asked at once. No one had any clue what a kudan was.

You don't know? Of course! You're all from different worlds of course you wouldn't know." With a marker in Puppet Sorata's mouth he wrote something on the white board that held the map and chart. "Everyone in this world has a kudan attached. This is how it's written in kanji."

"Ah, I see," muttered Kurogane.

"I don't see at all," said Fai with a smile back on his face.

"Mokona can read!" she said as it jumped up before turning to the others, "Can Syaoran, Shadow, and Maria read it?"

"Yes,more or less," was Syaoran's reply.

"Same here," said Maria.

Shadow was surprised to find that he also could read it too. "So can I."

"So Kurogane, Syaoran, Shadow, and Maria's worlds must use kanji but not Fai's. Yet for some reason we can understand what each of us is saying," said Sorata as he wrestled the marker away from Puppet Sorata.

"This kudan, what kind of technique is it? And you used the word 'attached'." said Kurogane. Instead of Sorata answering it was Arashi who spoke as she knelt down next to Sakura.

"Even if you are from another dimension, once you've arrived a kudan will be attached to you. I can't say where Sakura's memory went, however, if someone has picked it up it could be the cause of a fight." she looked at Kurogane, Fai, and Shadow before saying. "You've lost your method of battle."

"How did you know?" asked Fai.

"My Honey used to be a Shinto Religion Miko. She possesses spiritual power." answered Sorata.

Shadow looked at her. _'Guess you'll never know what kind of powers people might have in other worlds.'_

"Well, I did gave my magic power to the Dimension Witch," said Fai, though Shadow remembered his price was a tattoo marking, not his magic.

"And I gave up my sword to that bitch!" growled Kurogane.

"I had to give her my inhibitor rings," said Shadow. Arashi then looked to Syaoran.

"I never had any magic or weapons to begin with," was his answer.

"That may have been your good luck. There are kudan in this world. When it comes time to fight, the kudan should be able to help."

"So kudan were originally meant for battle?" Maria asked.

"What it is and how it's used it all up to you. One look can answer a hundred questions. To know what a kudan is you'll just have to see it with your own eyes," explained Sorata with crossed arms. "Now I've pretty much explained everything you need to know about this country."

"He did?" asked Kurogane to no one in particular.

"He did. You just fall asleep," replied Shadow with a smirk even as he received a glare from Kurogane. Sorata turned his attention to Mokona and asked if there was a feather here.

"Yes! It's still far away, but this country has one," answered Mokona.

"Shall we find this feather of yours?" Sorata asked Syaoran.

"Yes."

"Do you four feel the same?" he asked the rest.

"I might as well," said Fai.

"Yep," Maria simply said.

"Yes," was Shadow's short reply.

"If I said that I wanted to leave, would you do it?" Kurogane asked Mokona who said.

"No! Mokona won't leave this country until Mokona finds the feather!"

"And I'll vouch for you guys while you'll here in our world, I owe Yuko a favor. And since this is a apartment building we have plenty of room for you guys," said Sorata as he moved the white board out of the way.

"Thank you very much," said Syaoran.

"Since it's almost midnight, I'll show you to your rooms. Fai and Kurogane, you don't mind sharing a room?" asked Sorata.

"Not at all," said Fai. Kurogane however did mind.

"WHAT WAS THAT?!"

"And Shadow and Maria, you don't mind sharing a room?" he asked them.

"I don't mind if it doesn't bother Shadow," said Maria.

"I don't care," was his answer.

"Why do I have to share a room with a complete stranger!" yelled Kurogane.

"I'm not a stranger, I told you my name didn't I?" Fai said. Mokona jumped on Kurogane's shoulder.

"Mokona told you Mokona's name too!"

"You're stranger than all the rest! Even more than the hedgehogs." Shadow didn't know whether to take that as an insult or not so he remained silent. With that Mokona jumped off to stay with Syaoran and Sakura while Sorata led them to their rooms. Once Shadow and Maria were in their room Shadow sat down on his futon, while Maria took off her coat before laying down. Shadow noticed she didn't have a blanket so he grabbed one and tossed it to her.

"Here." he said before laying down himself. Maria took the blanket and smiled before saying quietly.

"Thank you, Shadow. You're still looking out for me."

"Huh?" he looked over at her but saw she already fell asleep. "What did you mean by that?"


	4. Chapter 3: Of Storm and Fire

**Tsubasa Shadow Chronicles**

**Chapter 3: Of Storm and Fire**

"You guys won't get anything done sitting in your rooms. You have to start your search for Sakura's feather someplace. So get out into the neighborhood and see what you can find!"

Morning had arrived and the travelers were ready to set out for the feathers. Syaoran, Kurogane, and Fai were now wearing clothes from this world to blend in better, mainly tee shirts and jeans of their respected colors. Maria still wore her original outfit since it seemed that her clothes fit with the style here. Fai and Mokona seemed eager to go, Kurogane was indifferent, Syaoran was determined but nervous about leaving Sakura even if it was only for a few hours, Arashi reassured him by saying that she'll stay with her; Maria however trying to look at everything at once. _'It's like she's never been outside before. Where was she from before coming to Yuuko's shop? Come to think of it has she ever left the shop during her stay?'_

"Mokona isn't a white thing! Mokona is Mokona!" Shadow turned to see Mokona jumps towards Kurogane.

"Stay away!" unfortunately for him Mokona landed on his shoulder anyway.

"If Mokona is a white thing, then this guy is a black thing right?" asked Fai with a grin.

"Right!" Kurogane glared at them and Shadow could have sworn he heard a growl. Shadow turned his attention Syaoran and Sorata when he heard something interesting.

"Don't worry, no one will give Mokona, Shadow, or Maria a second thought?" Sorata said to Syaoran though it confused both him and Shadow.

"What do you mean by that?" asked Shadow.

"You'll see soon enough," said Sorato and before Shadow could say anything else Sorata handed Syaoran a small purse that looked like a frog.

"Here, there's enough in there for lunch so you five should take your time and make friends."

_'I'm on this journey to find my memories, not make friends.'_ Shadow felt no need to say it since the others were also on this journey for their own goals in mind. They each have their reasons for being here and it wasn't to make friends.

"Why is he giving the money to the kid?" asked Kurogane.

"Because he seems to be the most trustworthy!" replied Sorata with a thumbs up.

"WHAT'S THAT SUPPOSE TO MEAN!?" a flash of yellow and blue caught Shadow's eye. Maria must have taken that as the cue to go for the next thing they all knew Maria was racing down the street into the city.

"Hey! Wait up!" Shadow dashed after her with the others not far behind. Surprisingly Maria got pretty far before Shadow ran in front of her stopping her in her tracks. "Next time, how about you give us a warning before you take off like that?" Maria let out an embarrassed laugh before replying.

"Sorry, I just never been to a city or seen anything like this before."

"This is a strange but bustling place. Small building bunched up with large ones." They turned to see it was Fai who spoke, he and the others had caught up with them and heard Maria's response. "Syaoran, have you seen seen anything like this?"

"No, never." once he got Syaoran's answer he moved on,

"Kuro-tan, how about you?"

"NEVER! AND WHY DO YOU CALL ME BY WEIRDER AND WEIRDER NAMES!?"

_'Better him than me. He has yet to call my by a weird name since last night and I want it to stay that way.'_ Fai brought him out of his thoughts when he asked him the same question. "Nothing quite like this." _'Anything I saw remotely like this was in ruins with no life anywhere, not even from the planet itself.'_ On almost all the planets Shadow had been back in Sonic's dimension were empty of any life since their planet egg had been stolen by the Metarex. So any civilization that might have existed before ended long ago taking with it the cities and its people. Out of the corner of his eye he noticed Kurogane was watching him when he answered. _'What does he suspect?'_ Suddenly their attention was diverted when a group of girls passed giggling while making comments about Mokona, Maria, and to Shadow's surprise, himself!

"It's pure white!

"And round!"

"Such yellow hair!"

"So pretty!"

"That one's almost pure black!"

"I think it's cute!"

Once they passed Shadow could only stare dumbfounded at what just happened. "Cute?" He noticed Maria had the same reaction.

"What just happened?" she simpled asked.

"Mokona has many girlfriends!" Mokona said with a blush.

"Those aren't girlfriends!" said Kurogane with a dismissal wave. They passed by a store front and the shopkeeper noticed them.

"Oh! Come in gentlemen! You want to buy a apple from me?" he said as he held a red apple. Syaoran was puzzled when he saw the apple.

"That's an apple?"

"If it's not I don't know what is." This confused Shadow.

"Wait so it doesn't look like that in your world?" he asked Syaoran.

"The shape is the same, but in my world the color is yellow," replied Syaoran. This confused Kurogane next.

"Isn't that called a pear?" said Kurogane.

"No. A pear is redder and has leaves coming out of the top." This new bit confused Fai next.

"No, that's a raki seed isn't it?"

"Isn't that a tomato?" asked Maria. Before the conversation of what a apple looks like could continue the shopkeeper interrupted in an impatient, angry tone.

"Do you want it or not?!"

"Want it!" Mokona settle the deal before anyone could say otherwise.

"Nice doing business with ya."

"Huh?"

Thanks to Mokona they each now had a apple so they stopped at a bridge to enjoy their snack.

"These apples are pretty good, huh?" said Fai.

"They are pretty tasty," replied Maria.

"But, it really is true that we five came from completely different cultures." said Fai before bringing up a another subject that Shadow wanted to avoid. "Come to think of it, I never asked... How did you get to the shop of the Dimension Witch Syaoran? You said there was no magic in your world didn't you?"

"There's a high priest in my land. He sent me," answered Syaoran.

"That's impressive. It's hard enough to end one person across the dimensions but he managed to send two." He then turned to Kurogane. "How about you Kuro-rin?"

"I told you to stop that!" mumbles before answering, "The princess of my country sent me away by force."

"You did something bad and she did it to scold you!" teased Fai and Mokona made it worse by repeating "She did it to scold you!"

"Will you all shut up!?" he then turned back to Fai. "What about you? Who sent you?"

"Me? No one, I sent myself." Fai then turned to Shadow, "How about you Shad?" Shadow had hoped that Fai would pass him and call him by his actual name but obviously neither one wasn't going to happen.

"I left my world under... complicated circumstances. I'm not entirely sure how I arrived though I think I somehow sent myself there." That was the truth, though Shadow was on th verge of losing consciousness he remembered that strange energy he felt. He knew that energy sent him to Yuuko's shop, but he doesn't know what that power was and why of all places it he ended up at her shop. _'When I get my memories back maybe I'll find out what that energy was and if it's still in me.'_ Fai gave him a curious look but didn't press the subject, instead he moved on to Maria.

"And you?" Like Shadow she seemed to think about her answer for a moment before answering."

"I arrived at her shop the same way Syaoran and Kurogane did, someone sent me there." Shadow had a feeling there was more to it, but she had her reasons not to say more, same as him.

"Wait, if you two can travel dimensions," Kurogane said referring to Fai and Shadow, "Then there was no reason for you to ask the Witch for anything. You could have done it yourself."

"Not even close." said Fai before further explaining why that was, "Were I to muster all of my magical abilities, just getting myself from one dimension to the next would take everything I had. The one who sent Syaoran, and possibly the one who sent Maria, and the one who sent Kuro-chin-"

"I TOLD YOU NOT TO CALL ME NAMES!" he yelled though Fai continued as if he didn't hear him.

"are people with a lot of magic power. But I bet it took all they had. I imagine anyone has the power to send someone to another world only once. That's the reason your high priest sent you to the Witch's place. It would take going to a lot of worlds to be able to collect all Sakura's feathers, and I think the only one who can send someone to many worlds is the Dimension Witch." Shadow remembered back to when he first woke up at her shop and asked how he got there.

_"Try not to worry about too much, you're coming here was "hitsuzen."_ Shadow's wish did require him to travel many worlds to find the one who stole his memories, so did he somehow knew about her from before and sent himself to her shop or was it that strange energy? _'What was that energy and how did it know to send me to her shop?'_ Shadow was pulled out of his thoughts when a scream was heard. He looks around to see what caused it, he didn't have to look far. On a rooftop at the end of the bridge were a group of young men wearing goggles and scarves and facing them on the ground were another group hats.

"This time were going to kick your butts and take over this neighborhood!" yelled who seemed to be the leader of the gang in hats. A man wearing goggles who seemed to be the leader of that group gave a thumbs down in response.

"They're cool." said Fai, though Kurogane and Shadow were indifferent though Maria seemed to be looking around for something.

"That bastard has a special level kudan, but don't let that get to your heads!"

_'Looks like we're about to see what a kudan is.'_ Shadow suddenly felt what seemed like electricity travel throughout his chest. _'What the?'_

The leader of the ones on the building suddenly held up his hand, that must have been a signal for all of his men jumped down from the roof to the street below. Suddenly strange creatures on each side appeared and firing a type of energy beams at the other. All around them they heard people shouting various things.

"What's wrong with kids these days?!"

"It's those guys again!"

"You JD brats!" Shadow noticed it was the shopkeeper who said the last one.

"So that's a kudan," said Kurogane.

"I think I've figured out why no one was surprised to see Mokona, Shadow, or Maria," said Fai with that smile.

"Why would they with these things running around," said Shadow. He kept his guard up and his eye on Maria when he noticed stray attacks were flying over people, some hitting near by buildings. He then saw a block like kudan jump up towards goggles leader but before it could land an attack he seemed to summons his own kudan, a large, blue, stingray appears above him and fires a water cannon taking out the enemy kudan but also causeing a wave of water to flood the bridge knocking out the hat gang in the process. However a boy slipped from the wave which also caused a large sign to fall towards the boy and his companion.

"WATCH OUT!" yelled Syaoran as he ran towards them to get them out of the way. Shadow saw Maria ran towards them as well.

_'Dam those two!'_ Shadow dashed after them. But right when Shadow reached them flames erupted from behind Syaoran while lightning bolts appeared from Shadow, destroying the sign. The flames took on the shape of a wolf with a long, narrow horn coming out of its forehead while the lighting formed into a tiger with a large, jagged crest on its forehead. The goggles leader smirks. "You two seem to have special kudan, don't ya?" he says to both Syaoran and Shadow with a smile. "A kudan that can wield fire and a kudan that can wield lightning. Mine works with water, you two fire and lightning though I never heard of a kudan attached to another kudan. But that just makes things more interesting!" With that his kudan launch another water cannon at them. Shadow and Syaoran instinctively put themselves in front of Maria and the two boys and just like with the sign a wall of fire and lighting appeared in front of them stopping the water in it's tracks before evaporating into steam. "I'm Shogo Asagi. You two?"

"Syaoran."

"Shadow the Hedgehog."

"I like you style, Syaoran and Shadow." Suddenly sirens cold be heard heading their direction.

"Shogo, the cops!" yells one of his team members. Shogo left out a sigh of disappointment before saying.

"And it was just getting good. Come on then! Let's get outta here!" with a salute his team answered with what sounded like "Fowoo.' To Shadow and Syaoran he said "Next time we meet, we'll have some real fun!" then they left the area right when the police arrived. The wolf and tiger kudan both turned into their element before flying and disappearing into their owners' chest. Fai and Kurogane then came up.

"That was amazing! Did they come from you two?" asked Fai.

"That's a kudan, huh?" said Kurogane.

"How did they appear?" asked Maria.

"I'm not sure. But I suddenly got very hot," said Syaoran.

"I felt something like a electrical current pass through me," said Shadow, suddenly he turned his full attention to Maria. "Are you okay and what were you thinking?!"

"I'm okay and I just reacted without thinking same as you," countered Maria. Once hearing this Syaoran then asked the boy if he was okay who nodded yes.

"I'm glad to hear that, and you're okay too?" Syaoran asked the other boy who bowed but then suddenly disappeared much to their shock.

"He vanished!" exclaimed Syaoran as he looked around to see if he find out where he went.

"Oh! That kid was a kudan," said Fai as he figured it out.

"These kuden, looks like they can be just about anything," muttered Kurogane.

"Seems like it," agreed Maria. "Now were did Mokona go?"

_'Mokona?'_ Shadow suddenly realized why Maria seemed to be looking for something earlier, though he now realized she was looking for someone. Last time he saw her she was on Kurogane's shoulder though was now long gone.

"It probably got stepped on somewhere," said Kurogane who wasn't making that much of an effort to find Mokona. Shadow didn't have to look far to see that was far from the truth.

"Noooo. Look. The truth is quite the opposite," said Fai as he pointed to where Mokona was. They all looked to see Mokona was surrounded by adoring girls who couldn't seem to get enough of the white creature.

"Mokona is popular with the ladies!" they heard her say. Maria was somehow able to get Mokona back from fangirls without incident.

"What happened Mokona? Where we're you?" Maria asked once they were back with the group.

"On top of kurogane, but then Mokona fell off." referring to the moment when Kurogane yelled at Fai to stop calling him names. Then it jump on top of Syaoran's head before saying. "But then just earlier Mokona went like this! But no one paid any attention!" Mokona opened her eyes, the signal when a feather was near.

"You mean Sakura's feather is somewhere near by?"

"What!" _'There was a feather and they missed it?!'_

"It was but Mokona can't feel it anymore."

"Do you know who had it?" asked Shadow. Mokona shook her head. "Don't know."

"I see," said Syaoran sadly though he tried to hide it. Shadow was disappointed too but even he couldn't blame Mokona this time, it was pretty chaotic just moments before and no one was paying attention to her, including himself.

"Even if we limit to only the people that were here it'll still be a long search." said Fai.

"But at least we know someone near by had it, that's a good start. And if Mokona senses anything else you'll let us know" said Maria in hopes that it would make their mission more possible and lighten the mood.

"Yes! Mokona will go all out!" said Mokona with a salute to the chest. It seemed to work for Syaoran managed a smile.

"But if Kuro-chi haven't dropped Mokona, this wouldn't have happened," teased Fai.

"What makes this my fault! And will you stop calling me those weird names?!" said Kurogane.

"Neither of you are helping!" Shadow said to both of them. Suddenly the boy approached Syaoran and Shadow.

"I want to thank you two. My name is Masayoshi Saitou. Please let me do something for you in thanks."

"No, we really didn't do anything," said Syaoran, trying to decline his offer politely, Mokokna however had other ideals.

"Mokona wants lunch! Something really good!"

"Okay!" agreed Masayoshi before leading them to a restaurant.

* * *

Before long they found themselves sitting in a restaurant table that had a stove built into it and in front of each of them was something that looked like vegetarian pancake.

"What the in world is this?" asked Shadow.

"Um, y'see okonomiyaki is my favorite dish, so I ordered modanyaki, but but maybe tonpeiyaki would have been better," answered Masayoshi, though Shadow didn't have any ideal what any of those were.

"Okonomiyaki? Is this what it's called?" asked Fai.

"Okonomiyaki is the staple of the diet in the Hanshin Republic. If you don't know that then that must mean you came from outside the country?"

"You could say that," said Fai. This confused Masayoshi.

_'You better not give away the fact that we're not from this world wizard.'_ Fai luckily changed the subject.

"Do those people always fight around the city? The guys in the caps and those in the goggles?"

"What was that about? I heard something about 'taking over the neighborhood'?" Maria put in.

"That was a fight for dominance. They form teams and fight to see whose kudan is stronger," Masayoshi.

"So the most powerful team gains control over the territory?" said Shadow.

"From the people's reactions it doesn't seem uncommon," Maria said.

"But think of the lives put in danger when they fight in a large public place," said Syaoran.

"There are bad teams, but there's also good teams too! They patrol their territory making sure no bad kids cause trouble. And if bad people are around they take care of the problem!" defended Masayoshi.

"Kind of like a local militia?" said Fai.

"What about the two teams from before?" asked Syaoran.

"The ones in the caps were the bad ones. But the guys in the goggles are different! When they fight other teams, some of the surrounding buildings get damaged, so the adults get mad. But they wouldn't do anything else that's bad! They're really cool! Especially their leader Shogo! They say his kudan is special level! It's so big and strong! Everyone wishes they had one just like!" Masayoshi got so excited that he didn't realize that he stood up in his excitement. He only realized that he got carried after he finished and when he saw everyone staring at him, well almost everyone, Kurogane was staring at his okonomiyaki not paying attention at all. "I'm sorry."

"So you wish you had a friend like him, huh?" asked Fai.

"I sure do!" he said before turning to Syaoran and Shadow. "But I'd like a friend like Syaoran and Shadow." both Syaoran and Shadow were confused by this statement, especially Shadow.

_'Why would anyone in the right mind want a friend like me?'_

"Anyone with a special level kudan is just amazing!"

"So what is that? Special level?" asked Syaoran.

"Didn't Shogo say you guys had special level kudans?" said Maria?

"It's an especially high level for kudan." Masayoshi said before explaining the levels of kudans, "The fourth level kudan is the lowest. And moving up, There's third level, second level, first level, and at the very top is special level."

"Then Shogo's kudan must be very strong," said Fai.

"Yeah! But so are Syaoran's and Shadow's! To get a strong kudan, especially a special level, you need to be a strong person yourself, or they won't stay. It's the person's heart that controls the kudan. So if a person can command a strong kudan, that's proof that the person is strong. Who wouldn't want a friend like that?" suddenly his mood change to almost a depression state. "My kudan is fourth level, at the very bottom." Shadow realized the cause for the sudden change, if the heart controls the kudan and Masayoshi was fourth level, one of the weakest, that meant he was weak. _'Makes sense, powerful kudan would want to attach themselves to someone strong so they both can use their full power, can't do that with someone who's weak be it physically or mentally.'_ Fai saw where this was going and quickly changed the subject.

"But when did Syaoran's and Shadow's kudan join up with them?" Shadow suddenly remembered that he saw his kudan before the accident on the bridge in a dream last night. That must have been the same for Syaoran and his answered confirmed it.

"Now that you mention it, I had an odd dream last night." before Syaoran can say more.

"STOP RIGHT THERE!" everyone jumped and turned to see two waiters come up, one with black hair and the one behind him with silver hair. When Syaoran saw them he immediately jumped up with a shocked expression.

"Your Majesty, what are you doing here?"

"You got the wrong guy, 'your Majesty' is no where near my name," said the guy with black hair. Shadow looked at his name tag which said Touya. The man now known to be Touya turned to Kurogane who's arm was still in the air holding a spatula. "And mister we do the flipping here. If you just leave it and wait we'll be right there."

"Y-Yes sir!" One they moved on Fai asked Syaoran,

"Why did he get so angry at Kurogane when he tried to flip his food?" asked Maria.

"With okonomiyaki here, the waiters do all the cooking for you. You don't have to do anything," Masayoshi explained.

"Is that right?" said Kurogane.

"But why did he get so mad?" she asked again.

"Must be a matter of pride," said Shadow.

"So he was a king in your world? And the guy with him was the High Priest?"

"Yes."

"It's just like the Space-Time Witch said. 'People you've met on your world developed under completely different conditions on others words."

"So you're saying that they're same as the king and high priest in the kid's world?" Kurogane asked.

"They're the same, and yet not the same."

"What's that suppose to mean?" asked Shadow.

"These two are the same as the one in Syaoran's world, but lived completely different lives here than them," explained Maria. "But at the basic level they're the same."

"Basic level?" Kurogane asked this time.

"Yes, the very root of their being, Their nature, heart-"

"Soul! That's what you're saying."

"Yep!"

Shortly after that conversation their meals were ready to eat and Shadow found himself facing a new challenge. How to use chopsticks and eat his food with them before Mokona steals it.

* * *

"THAT WAS GREAT!" shouted Mokona cheerfully.

"You tried to eat my food right after you tried to steal Kurogane's!" said Shadow.

"It was that delicious!" Mokona countered and to add insult to injury Fai agreed with Mokona. Shadow only sighed in annoyance.

"Thank you for guiding us here, it really was good," Syaoran said to Masayoshi.

"So what's the plan now?" Maria asked Syaoran.

"I was thinking we should search around this section of town."

"But we really don't know our way around, so we won't be able to go far. Since we have to find our way back to Sorata's apartment," said Fai.

"Are you guys going somewhere?" Masayoshi asked Syaoran who nodded. "Where would that be?"

"We don't really know, we're searching for something."

"If it's okay with you, I'll help you look. I can show you around."

"We don't want to put you out."

"Not at all! But I should phone home first, if you just wait here a second." Masayoshi then went off to call home while they waited by a pillar.

"Looks like he really wants to be friends," said Maria. Shadow didn't say anything to that. Fai then spoke to Syaoran.

"I nearly forgot. Our conversation was cut off before. You were talking about your dream."

"Yes. It was about that creature that appeared, that beast of fire."

"I had a similar one, but it was that lighting kudan," said Shadow.

"If you're talking about dreams with weird animals, I had one too," said Kurogane.

"Me as well, it was very persistent," said Fai.

"I had one too," said Maria. Suddenly they were interrupted by a rather loud voice.

"I WANT TO KNOW WHO THESE 'SYAORAN' AND 'SHADOW' ARE?" They turned to see a short, fat man with a split Mohawk wearing a spiked collar and black jacket and was followed by men with the same style. To Shadow he looked like a shorter punk version of Doctor Eggman, but with hair and without the mustache and nose.

_'Oh great, what does he want?'_

"You have business with them?" Fai asked.

"ARE YOU THE ONE SHOGO SAID 'HE LIKED YOUR STYLE'?!"

"He must shout to be acknowledge or else no one would notice he was there." muttered Shadow, earning a small laugh from Maria who tried to hide it, though somehow the Mohawk leader heard him as well.

"THAT'S NOT TRUE! AND WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE TO TALK TO ME LIKE THAT?!"

_'At least the Doctor had a inside voice'_ "I'm Shadow the Hedgehog." he noticed Syaoran step up beside him. "I'm Syaoran."

"WHAT? A LITTLE KID AND A RODENT? ARE YOU SERIOUS?" Shadow's eye twitched at the 'rodent' comment. One of his team members spoke up in what seemed to be a attempted to calm his leader down.

"No, it's them! I'm sure of it!"

"AND YOU TWO PLAN TO JOIN SHOGO'S TEAM?"

_'Can't this guy speak and not yell everything he says and what is he talking about?'_

"Team?" Syaoran asked, wondering the same thing.

"SHOGO ALREADY HAS TOO MANY TOP-LEVEL KUDAN ON HIS TEAM! ANY MORE WOULD TIP THE BALANCE! AND A KUDAN ATTACHED TO ANOTHER KUDAN WOULD REALLY GIVE A TEAM A HUGE ADVANTAGE! EVEN SHOGO ADMITTED YOU TWO HAVE REALLY STRONG KUDAN! IF YOU TWO INTEND TO JOIN SHOGO'S TEAM I'M GOING TO HAVE TO STOP YOU!"

"I'm not joining," said Syaoran.

"Neither am I," said Shadow.

"THEN YOU'LL JOIN MY TEAM!" he with sudden optimism.

"I'm not joining you either."

"Not a chance."

"They don't mince words, do they?" said Fai.

"I have my own affairs so-"

"THEN YOU'RE PLAN TO START A TEAM OF YOUR OWN!"

"Neither of us said anything like-" Syaoran tried to say but then the Mohawk leader summoned a large horseshoe crab, which Shadow guessed was his kudan.

"That's huge!" said both Mokona and Fai with a grin.

"WELL I'M GOING TO TAKE YOU BOTH DOWN RIGHT NOW!

"Would you shut up and listen!?" yelled Shadow. Suddenly both and Syaoran had to jump back when the crab swung it's tail at them. They both managed to duck in time to avoid the tail which cut halfway through a steel pillar. The people near by fled so now it was just them and the Mohawk gang.

"That guy really has poor listening skills," said Maria. Fai seemed to about to intervene with fight when Kurgone put his hand in front of them and step up next to Syaoran and Shadow.

"I've been pretty bored here. So I'll take you on!" he said with a smirk.

"Kurogane's been looking forward to this!" said Mokona while waving its hand for some reason.

"The Hanshin Republic is just his style, huh?" said Fai.

"SHUT UP OVER THERE!" Kurogane yelled back at them.

"But Kurogane, you gave up your sword to the Witch." Syaoran protested.

_'Something tells me not won't be much of a problem for him.'_ Kurogane was lean but was all muscle, and his built and attitude screamed warrior. _'This guy was made for combat.'_ As if to reassure Syaoran Kurogane said, "That sword was magic, it was special. I needed it in my Japan to kill the monsters that lived there. But kudan aren't monsters."

"SO WHAT LEVEL IS YOUR KUDAN?" the Mohawk leader shouted at Kurogane.

"I don't know and I don't care. And what's all the talk for? Stop yapping and attack already."

"Syaoran! Shadow!" they turned to see Masayoshi running towards them.

"Hey kid, do you know who this guy is?" Shadow asked once Masayoshi reached them.

"It's a team that wants to control this district! They've been fighting Shogo's team for it!"

"Is their leader any good?" asked Fai.

"His kudan is first level! While he may not look like much his kudan is one of the fastest around!" Shadow remembered first level was right below special level.

_'Not good.'_

"TAKE A LOOK AT A ATTACK FROM A FIRST LEVEL KUDAN! EAT THIS! CRAB POT REVOLUTION!" His kudan then swung its tail at Kurogane who managed to flip backwards to avoid the attack which instead cut a steel pillar straight through.

"It sliced right through like it was nothing!" said Maria not even trying to hide the shock in her voice.

"That kudan can sharpen any part of its body to be as shape as a knife!" Shadow didn't even want to think about what would happen if Kuogane fails to avoid even one hit from that tail. The crab then started to chase Kurogane while the Mohawl leader chanted 'Go! Go!' It tried ram itself into Kurogane but he jumped out of the way.

"WATCH OUT!" yelled Syaoran as he tried to rush in to help Kurogane, but thankfully Fai grabbed his shoulder to stop him.

"I think if you tried to get involved, he'll get really mad."

"He's right kid, if you get involved now you might do more harm than good," said Shadow.

"CRAB FREESTYLE!" the crab unleashed a new attack and this time Kurogane was unable to avoid it and appeared to be buried under rubble.

"KUROGANE!" Shadow saw Maria was about to rush out to help him, but he managed to grab her arm and stop her. She looked back at him and he merely shook his head.

"Don't make me repeat what I said to the kid."

"WHERE'S YOUR KUDAN? IT'S PROBABLY SO WEAK THAT YOU'RE ASHAMED TO BRING IT OUT!" taunted the Mohawk leader.

"Oh shut up!" out of the rubble appeared Kurogane, scratched up but no serious injuries. "You talk way too much!

"MY KUDAN HAS A TOUGHEST SHELL THAN ALMOST ANY OTHER KUDAN!" the Mohawk leader bragged.

"But is has a weakness. If I had a sword it would be in pieces already." Suddenly a large, blue dragon appeared behind Kurogane. Kurogane's kudan has made it's appearance. "What?! You're the one who appeared in my dream!" Suddenly the dragon turned into a large broadsword with a dragon's claw as the handle. "You're asking me to wield you?" he said as he took the sword went into a fighting stance. "I get it. You like a good punch-up too!" The dragon's sudden appearance seemed to shake the Mohawk leader's confidence though he tried to hide it.

"S-SO THAT'S YOUR KUDAN? IT'S PROBABLY JUST FOR SHOW! WELL, I GOT AN ULTIMATE ATTACK! ALL-YOU-CAN-EAT CRAB!" The spines on the crabs's shell suddenly stretched out into long spikes and it charged at Kurogane, but this time Kurogane was on the offensive.

"It doesn't matter how hard the shell is. Lobsters and crabs all have weak points in the joints. So when you pull out a knife." Kurogane then launched itself at the crab and used a technique of his own. "Magic Wave: Dragon King Blade!" With one hit Kurogane cut the crab in half, this impressed Shadow and the others. Though apparently when your kudan is defeated in battle you yourself are affected for when the crab was taken down the Mohawk leader doubled over in pain.

"Are you okay boss?"

"Hang in there!" he managed to speak to Kurogane in a quite voice for once though he still tried to speak loudly.

"Th-Those two lied! They did form a team! You're on Syaoran's and Shadow's team, aren't you?"

_'Where does he get these ideals from?'_

"I'm not on anybody's team! Listen. In my life, I've only served under one person. And that's Princess Tomoyo!"

* * *

After the battle they quickly left the area and decided to call it a day and headed back to Sorata's apartment.

"We're back." said Syaoran as they entered the room where Arashi was with Sakura who was still sleeping.

"Welcome. Come on in. We're you able to find any leads?"

"Yes." before Syaoran could say more Sorata came rushing down the stairs.

"OH! You're all here! How did it go? But before any of that." he went over to Arashi. "HONEY! Where's my welcome home kiss?! He pointed to his cheek, "Put it right here, babe." Arashi raised a clenched fist, she was giving him something alright but it wasn't a kiss.

BLAM

"I see. You had a reaction but it disappeared." Sorata said in a mournful tone before perking up, despite the large bump on his head, "And when Syaoran and Shadow were in trouble something that looked like a beast of fire and a beast of lightning suddenly appeared." While he said this Mokona was jumping around saying "Wow! Look at that bump is huge! Arashi is so strong!"

"That's right," Syaoran confirmed.

"Then those beasts must have been Shadow and Syaoran's kudan. They also seem pretty strong too, so does Kurogane's kudan."

"How do you know that?" Kurogane asked while Maria was treating his scratches. He had tried to refuse at first but she was persistent so he let her treat them.

"I told you before, I'm a scholar of history. Kudan are the foundation of the whole thing. It's my belief that kudan are akin to those in this country. In the Hanshin Republic, there is a myth that's been passed down throughout generations. It says the number of kami, or gods, is eight million."

"So there are eight million gods here?" asked Fai.

"That's a lot of kudan," Maria said as she finished treating Kurogane.

"No, there's probably many more. They say are as many gods as there are things and phenomena in the world."

"So the gods of that myth are now called kudan?" said Syaoran.

"You live together with your gods. That's pretty impressive," Fai said.

_'Living together with gods. That's an interesting way to live.'_

"So the gods of this land protect each and every person who lives in it!" Syaoran concluded.

"You came to that conclusion too? I thought that all along! The kudan, or rather the gods, have a lasting love for the people of the country! Every person without exception is protected by a kudan. No one is left alone! While it's true that a lot of people here are easy to rile up. But even so I think they're all good people. And that's why when it comes to finding Sakura's feather, searching here is better than searching in a country full of bad people, or a country that makes war on it neighbors."

"That makes sense. If this country were filled with people with dark intentions, it would make it that much harder to not only find the feather the feather but retrieve it as well." Shadow commented. Arashi then spoke next.

"You said that you detected the waves of Sakura's feather, but don't know where it went?" Mokona nodded. "So if was simply that someone who had the feather and walked away with it you still could have been able to track down where it went. But if the one who had it can appear and disappear the only thing that could have it is," she didn't say more but she didn't need to.

"A kudan! Is that what you mean?" said Syaoran.

"A kudan can appear and then disappear," said Fai.

"And if the kudan disappeared, the wave might disappear with it." said Kurogane

"So somewhere in this city a kudan has a feather," said Shadow.

"But we have no ideal who's kudan has it" said Maria.

"There were a lot of kudan back then! It was in the middle of a territorial battle," concluded Mokona.

"But it would have to be a strong kudan," said Sorata.

"Why is that?" Kurogane asked. It was Arashi who explained.

"The fragments of Sakura's memory are immensely potent, like crystallized shards of her heart. A kudan uses the owner's heart. The stronger the heart, the stronger the kudan becomes."

"So we just have to look for the strongest kudan and that one will most likely have the feather," said Shadow. Sorata suddenly stood up.

"All right! Since we got that all figured out, it's time to replenish ourselves with some good food. I will need the help of Shadow, Kurogane, Fai, and Maria." Shadow and Kurogane were more than surprised to hear that they were on kitchen duty.

"Why do I have to help?" asked Kurogane.

"I can't cook," protested Shadow.

"You don't work, you don't eat. And don't worry we'll teach you," Sorata simply said. He wasn't taking no for an answer. So Shadow faced one more challenge for the day that he wasn't sure he would make it out of, how to cook.


	5. Chapter 4: Strength of the Heart

**Tsubasa Shadow Chronicles**

**Chapter 4: Strength of the Heart**

The next day the travelers set out once more into the city, this time to find the strongest kudan that hopefully has the feather. But it was difficult to find the strongest kudan when they weren't even out.

"I guess no one simple has their kudan out while walking," said Fai, pointing the problem.

"Even if we find the kudan that has the feather, I doubt they'll be willing to hand it over," said Kurogane.

"Why would they when it sounds like the feather would increase their power ten fold?" said Shadow. Suddenly Masayoshi's kudan upper body appeared through a wall they were walking by. This shocked Syaoran and Maria the most since they were the closest to the wall.

"Syaoran!" they turned to see Masayoshi running towards them, "Where you were able to find what you were looking for after I left?" he asked while trying to catch his breath as his kudan disappeared.

"Not yet," replied Syaoran. Mokona jumped over from Syaoran's shoulder to Masayoshi once he could breath again.

"Then how about I'll be your guide again?"

"Is that okay?"

"Sure! It's Sunday to it's perfect."

"How were you able to find us?" asked Shadow.

"My kudan can find anyone by meeting them even once, but only if they're not too far away."

"That's amazing," Maria said.

"That's all he can do, he's pretty weak though."

_'I could find several uses for that trick nonetheless.'_ Suddenly a screech pierced the air and before anyone realized what happened a large mechanical bird snatched up Masayoshi and Mokona and flew away with them.

"MOKONA! MASAYOSHI!" yelled Syaoran. From the bird an envelope drifted down which Syaoran picked up and read, but something strange happened next. He heard Syaoran say their names but what he said after that made no sense.

"Huh?" Syaoran spoke again but Shadow still couldn't understand what he was saying. Fai and Kurogane spoke next but just like Syaoran he couldn't understand what they were saying. "It's like they're speaking another language."

"That's because they are." he turned to see it was Maria who spoke.

_'At least I can understand what she's saying.'_ "So we can still understand each other, but can't we understand them anymore." The others were tapping or picking their ears, not being able to understand what the other was saying and just as confused as them as to why they couldn't understand each other anymore.

"I don't know why, nothings change." suddenly it hit them all at once.

"MOKONA!"

* * *

After that Syaoran showed them all the letter. Shadow wasn't sure if Fai or Kurogane could read it but he and Maria could and it said, "I'll be waiting at the Hanshin Castle!" They asked around to see if any of them could talk to anyone living here. Turns out that Kurogane can speak the language here or at least some form of it so they left it up to him to get directions then they were on their way to the Hanshin Castle. After taking a subway and having to endure what he assumed to be more comments him and Maria and random people pressing up against them, they took an exit that should lead them to the Hanshin Castle.

"Remind me to never take subways again!"

"It wasn't that bad."

"Maria, you got shoved into a fat man! And I was nearly crushed by girls that had no sense of personal space!"

"Okay it was bad." Suddenly their attention was diverted to a large castle and at the very top hanged around their waists were Mokona, who looked like was having the time of her life, and Masayoshi scared out of his mind. "That's a long way up."

"How did you get up there?" Fai asked with a wave.

"Looks like you're having fun, at least the white thing is," said Kurogane.

"Almost a shame we have to end their fun," said Shadow. They all suddenly looked at each other in confusion. They could understand each other now!

"So you can understand me now?" said Kurogane.

"So it appears," replied Shadow.

"Yeah, I can understand what you're all saying now," said Fai.

"So it was Mokona's doing," said Syaoran.

"Mokona was acting as a translation device," Maria said.

"Mokona is pretty incredible! Transporting us to different worlds, translating our language so can talk to each other, and eating apples whole," commented Fai as they starting running towards the castle.

"Wait! So does that mean if we get separated from it we won't be able to communicate?" Kurogane asked.

"Pretty much!" answered Shadow.

"What a pain!"

Soon enough they arrived at the castle where they were met by a VERY large number of people.

"Guess we have a welcoming party," said Shadow when he saw them all.

"Who is the one who wrote this letter?" Syaoran asked while holding up the letter. From above near the top of the castle they heard.

"That would be me!" they looked up to see a young woman with long, light blue hair, wearing a crop top, a skirt, and wore butterfly wings on her back.

"Who is this woman?" Kurogane asked. To this the entire crowd booed at him.

"You don't know Primera?! You must live under a rock!"

Primera is our idol! She sings! She dances! She even has her own morning talk show!"

"But more than that, she has an incredible kudan!

"Cute and Strong!"

"She's the best!"

"Okay! Okay! We get the point!" Shadow yelled back. Syaoran then spoke to Primera.

"Please let Masayoshi and Mokona down!" she had a puzzled look on her face.

"You mean that isn't Syaoran and Shadow?"

_'WHAT?!'_

"I'm Syaoran!"

"I'm Shadow the HEDGEHOG! How can anyone confuse me with that?!" She paused for a moment before rapidly hitting some men beside her with something that looked like a paper fan.

"You idiots! You couldn't have been more wrong!"

"Guess it was one of their kudan that snatched Masayoshi and Mokona," said Maria.

"If you have business with me, than please let them down please!" shouted Syaoran so he could be heard.

"Nope." she said before jumping down to the roof, "If you want them back, you and that Shadow guy have to battle me for them!"

"Primera!"

"She's so cute!"

"Ah, shut up!" yelled Kurogane as he covered his ears. Their yelling was starting to get on Shadow's nerves as well.

"We have to find a way up," Syaoran said.

"I may be able to get up there," said Fai.

"You know where the staircase is?"

"No, but still should be able to get up there."

"Oh yeah? How?" asked Kurogane.

"My kudan may be willing to help." Suddenly a large green bird, with a gem on it's forehead, appeared behind Fai, it's body disappeared expect for it's wings which for a second seemed to merge with Fai before they disappeared as well. Next thing they knew he was flying through the air.

"Don't think you're going alone," Maria said.

"What? You got a bird kudan too?" asked Shadow.

"Nope." Suddenly a large, blue butterfly with violet and yellow patterns on its wings appeared by Maria. Like with Fai's kudan its body disappeared expect it's wings, but instead of disappearing they seemed to merge into Maria's back. Then she took off after Fai towards the top of the castle.

"Looks like these kudan come in any type," Kurogane said. Shadow couldn't help but agree, though he did thought a butterfly suited Maria very well.

"They can fly? No fair! If I can't they shouldn't be allowed to!" Primera pouted before perking up. "My kudan, come on!" in her hand something that looked like a microphone appeared. "Now you'll see what kind of damage my kudan can do!" Then into the mike she said. "Is everyone having fun?!" suddenly huge letters came flying out of the mike straight towards Fai and Maria and caused an explosion.

"Fai! Maria!" Syaoran yelled. Shadow could also feel his chest tighten a bit when he couldn't see Maria.

"Look up," they heard Kurogane say. They did and Shadow couldn't stop the sigh of relief he let out when he saw Maria was unharmed with Fai floating right by her unharmed as well.

"I wasn't expecting that," Maria said.

"A kudan can do that? This country is pretty amazing. What do you think of that attack Mokona?" said Fai.

"Amazing! Amazing!" chanted Mokona.

_'Whose side is she on?'_

"Primera's kudan is special level! Be careful!" Masayoshi warned Fai and Maria.

"This is frustrating! But." Primera then unleashed her attacks. "You won't beat me!"

"Don't fly on me!"

"No avoiding me either!"

"QUIT RUNNING AWAY!" Despite all her attempts Maria and Fai gracefully dodged every one of her attacks. Shadow couldn't help but feel enchanted from watching Maria, the way she moved through the air it was like she had wings all her life and it didn't help that the butterfly wings on her back seemed to belong there. She looked almost- Shadow caught himself before that thought could finish.

_'Wait, why am I thinking about her like that?!'_

"Why can't I hit you?"

"If one of those hit me, it might hurt," Fai responded.

"And I tend to avoid anything that comes flying at me," Maria said. Shadow then noticed Syaoran appeared to be looking for something. Kurogane voiced what he was wondering.

"What are you up to?"

"We have to get to the top and get them down, we also have to help Fai and Maria," answered Syaoran.

"You can leave those two be, they'll be fine." he said as Fai and Maria easily dodged more attacks. "I fought with a kudan before, so I know. Even if your kudan is able to fly, your muscles are your normal muscles."

"So the ability to float and dodge like they weigh nothing is their own?" said Shadow. Kurogane didn't response to that, instead he said.

"Look at that dam grin, that man is a combat veteran. I can't say the say for the girl but I say that she had some training as well." Shadow silently agree, you can tell by the way they move and even their attitude during the battle that they both had experience.

"I imagine so," Syaoran said. This caught Shadow a bit by surprise.

"That doesn't surprise you?"

"There's a clue in the way their carry themselves. They both also have a look in their eyes that gives out that impression." Shadow was impressed, that was almost exactly his reasoning. This must have impressed Kurgane as well for he said.

"Maybe you're not a complete fool."

"But I still want to help them out if I can."

"But I was right about you being a naïve kid," he said to no one in practical, but Shadow silently agreed. Syaoran kind of reminded him of Sonic, both wanted to help people if they could even if they wasn't much they could do or even if they knew them or not. But was thankfully less cocky than that blue hedgehog.

"YOU FORCED ME TO DO THIS! CHANGE!" They're attention was brought back to Primera who's kudan suddenly changed from a mike to a mike stand. "When my kudan becomes a mike stand there's no running away!" and into the mike she singed. "ALL THE FANS LOVE MEEEEE.." Like before Fai and Maria flew out of the way, but suddenly Primera swung her mike up while still singing, causing the words to suddenly move into a random pattern. The movement was too unpredictable to tell where it would come from and before Fai or Maria could move they both took a direct hit from the attack, sending them both to the ground.

"Fai! Maria!" Shadow saw Fai land in a tree, but Maria was heading straight for the ground! Without hesitation he dashed forward before sliding, catching Maria right before she hit the ground.

"I wasn't expecting that either," she said. She then opened her eyes see that not only was she in Shadow's arms but also on top of him, once realizing this a blush came across her face.

"You okay?" he asked while helping her up.

"Yes, I'm fine. Thank you for catching me."

"Way to go Shady!" They both turned to see Fai waving at them from the tree he landed in, judging from his appearance and attitude he was unharmed. Shadow growled when he heard the name, but he learned from Kurogane that telling him to stop it only makes it worse.

_'At least it's not as bad as Kuro-chan.'_

"You okay?" asked Syaoran who Shadow suddenly noticed was right next to them.

"I'm fine and I think Fai is to," answered Maria.

"Yep, I'm alright. I just didn't expect the kudan to change and those letters sure do came at you. Maria you noticed the same that I did?"

"Yep. Mokona didn't react during the entire fight, so that means she doesn't have the feather."

"So that was the real reason you went up there," accused Shadow.

"That and I did want to get Masayoshi and Mokona down." From above they heard Primera speak.

"Well? Do you surrender?"

"If I do, what happens next?" asked Fai.

"Then I move on to this Syaoran and Shadow guy."

"We can't have that. Shadow is helping Syaoran with some important business that he has to see through. I rather have this end with me."

"Is that so? Then I," in and out the mike stand came her next sentence in letters flying towards Fai. "WILL JUST HAVE TO WIIIIIIIIN!" At the last possible second he jumped up onto the letters and run up them, using them as a pathway to climb up to the top of the castle and reach Primera." Once he reached her he said.

"I don't want to be the cause of injury to a beautiful young woman. Won't you stop?" A moment passed before.

"THIS IS SO NOT FAIR!" unfortunately she accidentally said that into her mike sending the letters crashing into the top of the castle, sending both Masayoshi and Mokona plummeting. Masayoshi's kudan tried to slow their fall without much success.

""WATCH OUT!" Suddenly a familiar stingray caught Msasayoshi and Mokona and landed on one of the roofs of the castle near Primera and Fai. They didn't have to look far for the kudan's owner, Shogo, and his team and he didn't look happy.

"What do you think you're doing Primera?" he asked.

"Shogo!" said both Primera and Masayoshi.

"Don't you have work to do? Don't you have a concert to prepare for?"

"I did it because...Because you never come and see me! You don't!" she said as Fai helped her up. "Besides, there's plenty of time! The concert's at the Hanshin Doom right over there!"

"Even if it is, why are you destroying our cultural heritage?"

"You break buildings all the time! Don't talk to me all high and mighty!"

"What was that?!"

"What are those two squabbling about?" Kurogane asked.

"I have no ideal," said Shadow. Then they noticed Primera's fan club crying, somewhere even holding up letters that said 'love'.

"What's wrong with you guys?" Maria asked. They replied,

"Primera's in love with that team leader there!"

"But since he never comes to see, she's lonely!"

"How do you guys know this?" asked Fai.

"Primera's made it official!" someone said as every single one of them held up a magazine. "See for yourself!" someone said as he tossed his magazine over, which Kurgoane caught and started reading. "You're looking in the wrong place! Look at the photo in the front!" Shadow turned his attention back to the 'conversation' between Shogo and Primera, they were better than listening to these guys fawn over her.

"I don't know about you, but I'm suppose to go to school and help out with the family burliness! I was in the middle of a delivery!"

"But I'm lonely! So I asked these guys you liked over to see me, hoping they'd join the Primera Fan Club, and while you visited them, you could see me too!

"You dummy, they look nothing alike."

"WAAAAAAA!"

"Wait! She was going to use me and the kid as bait just so she could see her boyfriend?! And I don't recall her 'asking' to join anything!" Shadow grumbled.

"Syaoran! Syaoran!" they looked up to see Mokona, who climbed down with Masayoshi next to Primera, jumping up and down with her eyes wide opened.

"Mokona! You're eyes!"

"It's here! The feather is really close by!"

"Who has it?"

"Mokona doesn't know! But Mokona just felt a huge wave!"

"So a kudan has taken it inside itself," said Fai.

"But it gets stronger than it gets weaker. What does that mean?" Kurogane asked.

"Sorata said that kudan protect their owners. So probably the time it uses its greatest strength protecting it's owner." explained Syaoran.

"So that means we have to find the feather through battle." concluded Shadow. Suddenly they heard Shogo speak to Syaoran and Shadow.

"I'm sorry that my words caused unexpected trouble for you guys. But I meant it, I like your style.

You're both strong, but I'm not saying you have muscles. It's here," he pointed to where he heart is. So I wanted to take you both on with our kudan." Suddenly they heard Primera yell.

"Shogo, all you care about is your kudan battle you retard!"

"Don't say retard! Call me a 'fool' or 'idoit' if you must!"

"I understand" Syaoran said as his kudan appeared by his side. "Then I accept your challenge!"

"You sure you want to it two against one? Seems a bit unfair?" Shadow asked as his kudan appeared as well.

"It would be more interesting that way." To his team he said. "You guys stay out of this, got it?" from them Shadow heard them making bets on Shogo, Syaoran, and himself. He then heard Syaoran talk to the wolf.

"Like I said in my dream, I want power. Power so that I can protect Sakura. You'll fight alongside me?" the wolf seemed to nod, giving his answer. He then spoke to Shadow. "Do you want to fight? I know you're searching for something of yours and the feathers aren't really your mission, so if you don't want to fight it's fine." Shadow didn't speak for a few seconds before answering.

"While it's true that it isn't the feathers I'm searching for, they are suppose to lead me to what was taken from me. So in a way, finding the feathers is part of my mission. Besides I never back down from a challenge." he said this with a smirk. With that the battle was set to begin.

"READY!" All three kudans started to charge their attacks.

"GO!" with that water, fire, and lightning were fired and collided in the middle, causing near by rocks to flying, including a large one heading towards Syaoran!

"Kid!" Using the ground to hold himself up, Syaoran released a powerful kick that split the rock in half.

"Not bad." above them on higher ground Maria, Kurogane, and Fai watched the battle from above out of range.

"Syaoran's pretty cool," commented Fai.

"So he's more than just a pliable fool," Kurogane said.

"What do you mean by that?" Maria asked.

"Not just him, you two as well, even the black hedgehog. You all have faces that say 'ignore me, I'm a fool.' though the Hedgehog's more of 'piss off, my business is mine alone,' but I see right through it." Maria appeared a bit shaken for a second before recovering composure, but she noticed Fai quickly change the direction of the conversation away from himself.

"Yeah. It seems he's more than a guy with an archaeologist hobby. He's still very young. But young people can come through their pain. And I believe he has." back with Shadow and Syaoran, a brief pause in battle allowed Syaoran to ask Mokona if it could feel the feather's wave yet.

"The wave is there, but Moknoa doesn't know who has it!"

"I guess we have to make a bigger wave then," said Shadow as he and Syaoran both charged up an attack. Fire and lightning gathered around their owner's arm before they both unleashed a blast that combined together into one attack that charged at Shogo's kudan. His kudan fired it's own blast, but it fired too late and the resulting explosion sent both Shogo and his kudan flying back. Luckily the stingray flew behind Shogo and caught him. He was wet but unharmed.

"Oh man! That was the first time I was hit like that."

"Shogo!" cried Primera, failing to hide the worry and concern in her voice.

"I'm fine! I told you to stop screaming my name! You'll ruin your voice right before your concert if you keep it up!"

"Wh- Who ever said I cared what happens to you?!"

_'Why does she try to hide that she cares? This whole thing started because she missed him, she even said that she missed him.'_ he didn't understand why women did things like that. Shogo turned his attention back to them.

"You guys are tough. Kudan are controlled by the heart, so what makes yours so strong?"

"I have something that I must see through," answered Syaoran.

"I have something to see through as well," was Shadow's answer.

"That makes sense." suddenly he shouted. "EVERYONE, GET OUTTA HERE!"

"This can't be good," Shadow said. Both he and Syaoran put up their guard for the coming attack and he had a feeling this was going to a big one.

"READY!" his kudan started to gather water. "SET" a wave started to form that grew larger by the second. "GO!" at that word the wave launched itself at Syaoran and Shadow. Filling up the ditch to the top to where it could almost reach where Kurogane, Fair and Maria were. They all looked where Syoaran and Shadow were last seen, but all they saw now was fast moving water.

"SYAORAN! SHADOW!" shouted Masayoshi. "THIS IS TERRIBLE! THEY'LL BE WASHED AWAY! I have to find them!" he looked around but could find them, he stopped his search when Mokona happily said.

"They're right there!" They looked to where Mokona was pointing. Two small areas of water were starting to steam as the water moved away from the sources. As the water parted away it reviled a large ball of fire and another of electrical waves, they opened to show Syaoran and Shadow inside their element, both unharmed.

"Amazing," Masayoshi said quietly to himself. "They said they're from a foreign country, but they look at the way they handle their kudan. Me too. I want to be strong too. Like Syaoran and Shadow. Strong!"

Suddenly loose building material from the top of castle started to fall from the result of the wave, heading straight for Masayoshi, Mokona, and Primera!

"No! I can't just leave and save myself! Not when there are people to protect!" he put himself in front of Primera and Mokona to protect them from the falling debris. "I HAVE TO BE STRONG!"

Suddenly his kudan grew into a towering giant that easily dwarfed the Hanshin Castle, needless to say this shocked everyone, but what shocked some people more was what Mokona said that.

"MOKONA FOUND IT! THE FEATHER! IT'S IN THAT KUDAN!"

"Did I hear right? Did it say the feather is in that kudan? THAT kudan?!" Kurogane said.

"Unless for some reason I can't understand you guys again, I believe so," replied Maria.

"I think I get it," Fai spoke next. "When he used his kudan to find us, Mokona didn't detect it. But when it was protecting its master, that's the time when it needs all it's power, when it's protecting someone it cares about in a life-or-death situation. Last time Mokona detected the feather, it was also when Masayoshi was in a dangerous situation. Even now it's trying to protect him from the crumbling castle." As he said this the now giant kudan picked up Masayoshi in it's hand and suddenly opened its mouth and fired a huge beam of energy the destroyed the upper portion of the castle. Sending Primera and Mokona falling once more. Luckily Shogo rode on the back of his kudan and caught them both in midair.

"H-hey I'm fine! Go back to normal already!" Masayoshi tried to stop his kudan but it wasn't listening to him as it started to walk away from the castle. Syaoran and Shadow joined the others.

"What's going on with it?" asked Shadow.

"The feather has more power than the kudan can handle, meaning Masayoshi also can't control his kudan," explained Maria.

"What do we do now?" asked Fai. Syaoran then started walking towards where the kudan was going.

"I'm going to get Sakura's feather back."

"How do you intend to fight something that big. One wrong move and you're dead," Kurogane said.

"I won't die. I still have something to see through. I can't die yet."

"Count on Kuro-pi to handle things here. You go ahead."

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN?!"

"I'll see you later than," before Syaoran could take off though, Shadow step up next to him.

"You didn't really think you were going to face that thing alone, did you?" he said.

"You sure?"

"It's like I said before kid, I have something to see through myself and I don't back down from a challenge." Syaoran smiled at this.

"Be careful, both of you," Maria said to them.

"Don't worry, we'll be fine." Shadow said before he and Syaoran rode on their kudans and took off after Masayoshi and his out of control kudan in the air.

"Both Syaoran and Shadow have strength. In a lot of different way. I think I understand why the fire and lightning kudan choose them," said Fai before their group took off to help the others handle chaos left behind by the kudan.

Masayoshi tried desperately to get his kudan to listen to him, but with little success.

"Stop! I told you to stop!" suddenly he noticed his kudan's chest started to sparkle in a pinkish, violet glow. "It's sparkling." he then noticed Syaoran and Shadow land on a near by lamp post. "Syaoran! Shadow!"

"I told you that I was looking for something in this country. And I think I found it in your kudan." Syaoran said.

"You mean this?" he pointed to his kudan's chest and a glow can now be clearly seen.

"I need to get it back."

"Kid, follow me and stay close," Shadow said to Syaoran.

"Right." Masayoshi, not hearing what they were saying then said.

"But, my kudan isn't listening to me! If you guys get too close it'll-" before he could finish, Shadow went into a spin dash, surrounded by lightning and charged at the kudan's chest with Syaoran, surrounded by fire, right behind him. They made contact and pushed their way towards the glowing orb, ignoring the lightning and fire now spouting from the kudan's chest as if protecting what was at the center.

"STOP IT! YOU'LL KILL THEM BOTH!" Shadow continued to spin towards the center and Syaoran pushed his way through, both ignoring the burns they were receiving from the fire and the electrical shock from the lightning. Suddenly Syaoran's attention was diverted when he Masayoshi cry out in pain. "HOT!"

"Masayoshi! Shadow, stop! We're hurting him!" Shadow continued to spin, but managed looked over to Masayoshi, sure enough he was clutching his chest in pain. Shadow then remembered what happened when Kurogane defeated the Mohawk leader's kudan, he felt its pain, just like what was happening now. They were almost there; it was almost within reach, another step towards finding his memories. And yet.

_"But I'd like a friend like Syaoran and Shadow."_

"Dam it!" he was about to stop when.

"T-Take it! If the thing inside my kudan is what you're looking for, then I want you to have it! So if it burns me, let it burn! PLEASE... TAKE IT!

_'He's a brave kid, I'll admit that.'_ With Masayoshi's reassurance both he and Syaoran continued towards the center. Shadow almost reached it when he felt something strange occur throughout his mind and body. It felt as though an outer force was trying to awaken within him, shutting off his senses and closing him off from the world in the process.

_'W-what's...happening ..to me?'_ before Shadow lost his grip on the conscious world, Syaoran managed to grab the orb. With the power cut off Shadow regained his senses and just in time for the once giant kudan shrunk back to normal size, resulting in all of them falling towards the ground. Syaoran's kudan caught both Masayoshi and his kudan while Syaoran landed on his feet as Shadow's kudan helped him to the ground. Shadow then noticed it was raining; he looked up to see the stingray was causing the rain, prevent any stray sparks from starting a fire.

"Sakura's feather." Shadow turned to see Syaoran open his hand and sure enough, it held one of Sakura's feathers. "Sakura's memory. I was able to get one back for her." Shadow's thoughts suddenly turned back to what just happened or almost to him seconds before.

_'What happened to me back there? Did that feather have something to do with it?'_

* * *

After things settled down at the Hanshin Castle, or what was left of it, Syaoran raced back to Sorata's apartment with the others right behind him. In almost record time, for humans, they made it back to the apartment.

"Hey Syaoran! How did it go? Syaoran ran by has if he didn't hear him, which in his haste was probably true. "I see you're in a hurry, but what do you look like a burnt cinder?" By then the others had caught up.

"We found one of Sakura's feathers!" Maria said as they passed by and followed Syaoran.

"You did? That's great!" They followed Syaoran to the room where Sakura was, but watched from outside. Syaoran fell to his knees before laying the feather above Sakura's chest, which was quickly absorbed into her with a glow and Shadow, could have sworn he heard something like a soft bell ring out. Syaoran held her hand tight as they waited to see if that that feather would be enough for her to wake up. Finally her eyes opened for the first time since they saw her to revile jade colored eyes.

"Sakura!" Syaoran said happily, but then she asked something and the effect of the question was as if someone stabbed Syaoran in his heart.

"Wh-Who are you?" Syaoran's face which was just a second ago was filled with happiness now only showed shock, pain, and sadness. He gently put her hand down before looking down, his hair hiding his eyes, but Shadow and the others could see he bottom lip tremble. Shadow thought he was going to cry then, but instead Syaoran put on a smile and said.

"I'm Syaoran. And you, are her highness Princess Sakura. If you'll be so kind to listen, I'll explain. You're a princess from another world."

"Another world?"

"And at the moment, you lost your memory. In order to find your memories you're traveling between worlds to recover them."

"By myself?"

"No, you have traveling companions."

"Are you, one of them?"

"Yes."

"And you're doing this for a total stranger?" His eyes were filled with sadness once more, but again answered with a smile.

"I am." Fai then made his appearance, though Shadow knew he moved in to give Syaoran a break.

"Princess Sakura, please to make your acquaintance. Fai D. Flowright at your service." he said as he put his hand on Syaoran, a sign to tell him that it was okay and that they'll take over. "And may I present-" about to introduce Kurogane but he cut him off before his could give him a weird name.

"I'm Kurogane."

"Shadow the Hedgehog."

"And I'm Maria, I'm glad to finally officially meet you."

"Mokona Modoki! But you can say Mokona!" During their introductions Syaoran quietly walked out of the room. Shadow and the others waiting for a moment then left Mokona with Sakura to see where Syaoran went. Maria looked out a window and indicated to the others that she found him. He was outside standing alone in the rain.

"At that moment, I was sure he would cry." said Fai as they saw Syaoran's kudan stand next to him. "It seems that Sakura is the most important person in the world to him. So when she asked 'who are you?' I thought for sure he would cry."

"I wonder if he's crying now," commented Shadow.

"Don't know," said Kurogane. "But if he wants to keep from crying, he'll just have to get stronger. Strong enough so he won't be the one crying in the end."

"Maybe, but I think it takes a different kind of strength to be able to cry when you should." Maria said. By then all of their kudan were outside with Syaoran. Kurogane's and Fai's kudan floated above him using their wings to protect him from the rain, Maria's kudan softly landed on his shoulders using it's wings to provide cover and comfort, and Shadow's kudan stood opposite of Syaoran's kudan and wrapped itself close to him to provide warmth and comfort. All of them trying to help Syaoran through the pain of being forgotten by the one you loved most.

* * *

In another realm, someone was watching these events unfold from a large round mirror

"It seems one of the feathers has been returned to her," said a young woman, with long black, curly, hair, wearing a short black dress.

"Yes." This time a large man. He had black hair with white in the front of his forehead, wore an eyepiece and a long black robe with a bat symbol in the center. "And Shadow had a reaction when he came in close contact with the feather, though the process wasn't able to begin since Syaoran grabbed it before he did. But on the path to come, there's no guarantee that they'll be as lucky as they were this time." he looked behind him at a large capsule that contained a small boy wearing a black shirt with the same bat symbol of the chest and that had four long tails on all corners and black pants, wearing strange tattoos on his arms and legs. "The power to span dimensions will fall into my hands, no matter how much blood must be spilled to make it happen!"


	6. Chapter 5: Time to Get Underway

**Tsubasa Shadow Chronicles**

**Chapter 5: Time to Get Underway**

Shadow and Maria watched as Kurogane and Mokona fought over his food with chopsticks, it was quite entertaining. They were back at the restaurant with Masayoshi for Syaoran wanted to thank him and say goodbye before they moved on to the next world.

"Masayoshi, I really wanted to thank you."

"I should be thanking you. Both my kudan and I were always weak, so-" Shadow turned his attention to Masayoshi and saw he was getting tearful but he wasn't sad or anything like that. "I'm glad you were able to get the feather back!"

"You're not weak! Strength and weakness isn't measured only in battle. Going all out and doing your best for someone else's sake is a great sign of strength." Masayoshi wiped the tears away from his eyes both saying.

"Thanks! Thank you!"

"Yo." They looked up to see Shogo and while all everyone was looking at him, Mokona stole Kurogane's food right from his chopsticks. "I'm glad my team has good intelligence." Shadow looked around and to his surprise, Shogo's entire team was seating at near by tables.

_'How did I not notice them?'_ a sudden 'Boink!' diverted his attention to the center of the table. Kurogane had Mokona by its ears above the stove while it's eyes were wide opened and its tail looked burnt. Maria then was able to snatch Mokona but the damage was already done.

"You really shouldn't steal food from other people," she said to Mokona.

_'Or else you'll get burned,'_ he silently added. He turned his attention back to Shogo and Syaoran.

"No one was hurt?" Shogo asked.

"No, we're fine. Though I'm sorry to have interrupted our battle" Syaoran said with a small bow of his head.

"I was also curious to see the end result," added Shadow.

"It's okay. It was the only thing you guys could have done, circumstances being as they were. Besides, I was losing that battle pretty badly." Behind him his team booed.

"I lost 3,000 toro on that!"

"I won!" Shogo twitched in irritation before yelling.

"Oh shut up!"

* * *

After the meal everyone went outside. Syaoran said his final goodbyes to Shogo and Masayoshi, Shadow waited next to him while Maria was trying to keep Kurogane from crushing Mokona for stealing his food as Fai watched with that grin.

"How long will you be in the Hanshine Republic?" Shogo asked.

"We have to leave for another wor-" Shadow elbowed Syaoran in his side. "I mean another country very soon."

"Today's actually our last day here." Shadow said.

"I see. I'd hoped to meet you guy in other places than just battle. I wanted guide you around town a bit. Primera will be disappointed too." Shogo said as he shook both Syaoran's and Shadow's hand. Syaoran then shook Masayoshi's hand, even Shadow shook his hand before they joined back with the group.

"If we make it back, we'll be sure to look you up," Syaoran said.

"You can count on it," said Shadow as the others, expect Kurogane, waved goodbye.

"Take care!" said Masayoshi as they walked away. They didn't get very far when they heard cheering from team. Shadow turned back to see Masayoshi now wearing a pair of goggles like the rest of them team.

_'Looks like he got his wish, now we have to fulfill our own._'

* * *

Back at Sorata's apartment everyone was waiting outside in the courtyard back in their original clothes, with the exception of Maria and Shadow.

"You're going already?" Sorata asked.

"Yes," replied Syaoran.

"We have to get moving. We found the feather so now we move on," said Shadow.

"But you haven't tasted all the cooking that generated through the love of my Honey and myself!" Sorata said mournfully.

"You doing okay?" Shadow turned to see Maria talking to him.

"Why wouldn't I be?"

"You still seem tired."

_'Dam. She noticed.'_ what she said was true, after using his spin dash to reach the feather he almost fell to the ground in exhaustion, thankfully his kudan caught him and was able to hide it from Syaoran and was able to gather just enough energy to make it back to Sorata's apartment. He was still feeling tired from not having his rings to keep his energy from escaping but he thought he hide it from the others, apparently not well enough.

"I'm fine, save your worry for someone who needs it."

"If you don't hide it then I won't have to worry so much." For some reason that struck something in him. He looked away and saw that he wasn't the only one that looked tired. Sakura also had a sleepy look on her face as she hugged Syaoran's cloak he had lent to her, tighter around herself. He also saw that same sad look appear on Syaoran's face, Maria noticed it too but before she could say anything Kurogane beat her to it.

"Don't look down." Syaoran looked at him with a puzzled look. "If you're a man that has a job to do, you have to look ahead." Syaoran nodded, as he understood what he was telling him.

_'No sense dwelling on what's been done. It's time to move on.'_ with that Mokona's wings and the magic circle appeared, as Mokona prepared to take them to the next world they said they're final goodbyes,

"Thank you very much for everything!" Syaoran said.

"For what? We didn't do anything special," Sorata responded.

_'If taken in compete strangers from other worlds and providing them food and shelter isn't worth thanking them for, I don't know what is.'_

"I pray that you'll find one of Sakura's feathers in the next world," Arashi said. Mokona then sucked them up and they were surrounded by color once more as they were sent to the next world. As they left Sorata said to Arashi.

"So they were the ones Yuuko was counting on. You know, I think they'll be able to overcome any hardship they might find."

"Yes." Arashi agreed as they watched the last of mist disappear into the air.


	7. Chapter 6: The Secret Country

**Tsubasa shadow Chronicles**

**Chapter 6: The Secret Country**

CRASH

Shadow pulled himself out of the pile of broken crates and food, unfortunately Maria slipped on a piece of fruit causing her to fall backwards and slam into Shadow, causing him to fall back to the ground face first.

"Ow!"

"Sorry." Shadow rubbed his now sore face before looking around. They landed in a food stall in a market place and saw some kind of castle near by, though the style of the castle and surrounding buildings indicated that this world wasn't a modern world like the Hanshin Republic. He also noticed they were surrounded by armed men, who's attention were now on them.

"Now where are we?" he heard Kurogane ask.

"It's very different from the Hanshin Republic is all I can say," answered Maria.

"Wow! I think we're the center of attention," commented Fai.

"Really? What gave you that ideal?" Shadow said as he eyed the men.

"Everybody wants to see Mokona!" Mokona said as she landed. Suddenly a large man came up to them and Shadow did not like that look on his face.

"Who the hell are they?!" suddenly he roughly grabbed Sakura's arm. "And where did you come from?!" Before he could do anything else Syaoran leapt and gave him a brutal kick in the face sending him flying several feet before crashing to the ground. This action impressed everyone and each showed in their own way. Kurogane gave an appreciative grunt, Shadow smirked, Fai let out a small laugh, Mokona gave a small cheer, and even Maria wore a smile at this.

"Who do you think you are to kick me in the face like that?!" he shouted as he glared at Syaoran.

"Stop right there!" They all turned to a rooftop to see a young girl. "If you don't want to be kicked in the face, don't go attacking people at random! You stupid little boy!"

"Who are you calling stupid Chu'nyan?!" She pretends to scope out the area.

"I don't see anyone stupider than you."

_'I like this kid.'_

"You little...You insult me! I am the only son of the Ryanban, the master of the country of Koryo, including the town of Ryonfi!"

"You may call him Ryanban, but less than a year ago, he just a wandering Shinban magician!"

"You dare put down my father?! Do you know the punishment for opposing the Ryanban?! Chu'nyan!?" even from his distance Shadow can tell that it stuck a nerve in the girl. "I claim retribution for these insults! You better be prepared!" with that he took off with his men following at his heels. Once they were gone Syaoran turned his attention to Sakura.

"Are you alright?"

"I'm fine. Thank you," she answered with a smile, which he returned.

"Well it looks like we made a splash right after our arrival," commented Fai.

"Syaoran was great! Jumping around!" Mokona said as it jumped around.

"What did we land ourselves into?" Shadow said aloud. Maria then noticed food stalls they knocked over on their arrival.

"I'm sorry! These are yours right?" Maria said to the shopkeeper as she picked up a crate, though the shopkeeper had a shock expression from seeing Maria he gently told her it was okay. Syaoran immediately went to help out.

"Mokona will help too!" she said as she unwittingly spooked some girls near by from talking.

"Kuro-pin you help too," Fai said to Kurogane as he started to help.

"What a pain!" he growled but still came over to help. Even Shadow went to help. He looked around to see this stall was not the only one damaged but not by them. Apparently they arrived when those men were terrorizing the market place, taking down some stalls in the process.

_'A person in a high position using his power to terrorize those weaker than them instead of helping them.'_ for some reason he found himself angered at this, as if he encountered it before. Before he could think more of it.

"Those are weird clothes!" they all looked to see the girl now known to be Chu'nyan. He heard Fai laugh.

"She called them weird. Must have been talking about your clothes Kuro-rin," Fai teased Kurogane.

"Kurogane's weird!" repeated Mokona.

"I know she can't be talking about me, so it must be you guys," said Shadow.

"You people! Are you guys..." without warning she grabbed Sakura's hand and took off. Sakura rubbed her eye but didn't resist being pulled away. "Come with me!"

"Wait a moment!" protested Syaoran as he took off after them, the others not far behind him.

"We're busy right off the bat." said Fai.

"This is such a pain!" grumbled Kurogane.

"Stop complaining and follow that girl!" Shadow said as they follow Chu'nyan out of the market to who knows where.

Chu'nyan lead them to small, wooden, house. Once inside Kurogane sat in the corner reading a magazine he bought back in the Hanshin Republic, Fai was looking around, Shadow and Maria watch Chu'nyan stare at Syaoran and Sakura with strong intent, the two in question could only look back with puzzled expressions, neither having any ideal what was going on.

"Umm, where are." Syaoran tried to ask.

"My house," came Chu'nyan's quick reply.

"Why did you suddenly..."

"You don't have anything to say?"

"Huh?"

"You don't?"

"Um, it's just... we only arrived in this country. We just met you..."

"You REALLY don't?" she leaned in and narrowed her eyes.

_'The girl can be intimidating when she wants to be.'_

"I can't say that I do." she then hanged her head.

"Now that I think about it, children like you can't be Amen'osa could you?"

"Amen'osa?" Sakura asked tiredly.

"I heard someone say something about Amen'osa back in the market, what is it?" Maria asked.

"Amen'osa are a group of agents that the government sends around the country. They know that some of the Ryanban are acting only for their own self-interests in the regions they control. They know some people are oppressed. They travel across the country with a mission to right those wrongs," explained Chu'nyan.

"It's Mito-komon!" cried Mokona.

"Mito?" wondered Syaoran.

_'What's is she talking about?'_

"I've been wondering this for a while, but what are those three?" Chu'nyan asked, referring to Mokona, Shadow, and Maria.

"Mokona is Mokona!" she said as she jumped towards her, startling her to where she fell backwards.

"Just think of Mokona as a mascot, or maybe an idol," said Fai.

"Mokona's an idol!" she cheered as she twirled around.

_'That thing is too happy for its own good. Reminds me of a certain blue hedgehog.'_

"And these two here are hedgehogs are-"

_'Oh no.'_

"Shady."

"It's Shadow, not Shady!" he growled.

"And Maria. These two are basically people just with smaller and with fur so treat them as you would to everyone else," Shadow's eye twitches at that but made no comment. "So you think we're this Amen'osa... um." Fai asked but stopped when he didn't know her name.

"Chu'nyan."

"Chu'nyan huh? My name is Fai. And," he introduced the kids. "This is Syaoran. We also have Sakura." he then turned to Kurogane. "And lastly, we have Kuro-puu!"

"IT'S KUROGANE!" Fai ignored him and changed the subject.

"In other words, for you to wish for the Amen'osa to come, you must think this leader of yours is a bad man." Chu'nyan's mood immediately changed, she looked like she was about to cry.

"He's the worst! He took my mother away from me, and" suddenly they heard the wood of the building move as the wind picked up. Shadow immediately sensed something was wrong.

"Is that the wind?"

"Everyone! You can't go outside!" right after she said that the wind blew the door open. Outside he could see a small cyclone outside, it's strength picked up to the point where it ripped a large hole in the roof. They all shielded themselves from the flying derby; Syaoran wrapped his arms Sakura to protect her from the derby while Fai grabbed Mokona to keep her from flying. Shadow saw a piece of wood was about to hit Maria, he quickly grabbed Maria and used his body as a shield, taking the hit, thankfully, it was dull so it was a blunt hit. After a few moments the cyclone died down before disappearing. Shadow let go of Maria once he was sure the cyclone was gone.

"Shadow, are you okay?" Maria asked, looking him over for injuries.

"I'm fine, it was nothing," he replied as he tried to get her to stop.

"Not was no natural wind just now," commented Fai.

"It's the Ryanban!" they all turned to Chu'nyan. "HE'S THE ONE WHO DID IT ALL!"

The next day Shadow went with Maria and the kids to town while Kurogane and Fai stayed back at the house to repair the roof. While the girls walked ahead Shadow walked by Syaoran and Mokona, who was on Syaoran's head.

"Do you feel a wave from a feather?" Syaoran asked Mokona. It sensed the area for a moment.

"Mokona can't tell. Though Mokona feels a weird power throughout this country."

"A weird power?"

"It could be a feather, I mean what else could it be?" Shadow said. They neared a group of men playing some kind of game, one of the man noticed them and called out to them.

"Chu'nyan! You're dragging an outsider around town, huh?"

"They're guests. They came from a long way."

"Oh! Travelers! Will you join us?"

"What is this?" Syaoran asked. Shadow came to get a closer look to see a small bowel with a pair of dice inside.

"What kind of game is this?" asked Shadow.

"It's called Negi. You never heard of it?"

"I've seen something like this before, but it was called saikoro," Syaoran said.

"How do you play?" Maria asked.

"It's easy! You throw these two cubes and if they add up to a bigger number than your opponent, you win! Now test your luck!" he handed the dice to Sakura.

"They just love this game, honestly. At least the older people do anyway." Chu'nyan said to the others. "Who's that last person to roll the highest number?"

"I did!" answered one of the men playing before, "I threw eleven."

"But that means the only way to win is if she rolled a total of twelve! She's never done this before! What kind of game are you playing?!" protested Chu'nyan.

_'Con men.'_ Sakura dropped the dice into the bowel and to the shock of everyone, she rolled a twelve!

"Ya! Sakura won!" Mokona cheered while Syaoran, Shadow, and Maira sweat dropped at everyone's reactions.

"I…I guess some people have the luck." stuttered the man, "Time for the next round, roll them again young lady." Once more Sakura dropped the dice and just like before she rolled twelve.

"Give me a break!"

"It's like he said, some people have the luck and she has it." Maria said, Shadow and Syaoran could only nod in response.

No matter how many times Sakura rolled the dice, they always came up twelve. Thanks to Sakura's good luck they won food and clothes for this world as prizes. The girls now were an outfit similar to Chu'nyan. While Sakura's was different shades of pink and her skirt had panels that looked like cherry blossom petals, Maria's was different shades of blue and her skirt had panels that looked like rose petals. Syaoran wore a green, long sleeve shirt with two long tails from the front and back and matching pants. Shadow didn't bother with clothes but enjoyed the food nonetheless. Speaking of food, they were currently on a bridge enjoying it.

"That was amazing! No matter how many times you rolled, you always got a pair of six! You must be a favorite of the gods!" exclaimed Chu'nyan.

"A favorite of the gods?" Sakura asked.

"Somebody with unusually good luck. That's what we call them. My mother told me about them. Good luck comes from being especially loved by one of the gods. I wonder if you were always like that?"

"I don't know."

"What do you mean?"

_'I can see where this is going.'_

"All I remember is my name and some people from a desert town. There was desert all around us, but there was a little bit of tended land. Beyond that, I don't remember a thing."

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to ask something so painful to answer."

"It's okay. The reason we're traveling now is to regain my memories. I don't know much of it really, but he told me about. Syaoran told me." Even though he tried to hide it, Shadow saw Syaoran clutched his hand as a sorrowful expression appeared before quickly replacing it with a smile.

"Of course your Highness."

_'Even if she regains all her memories, she never be able to remember the kid.'_ Shadow knew Syaoran will continue this journey, no matter how painful it would be at the end. This thought brought Shadow to his reason for being on this journey. _'Have I also forgotten someone close to me?_

"PLEASE DON'T!" the thought was broken when they heard the scream. They turned their attention to a shop near by. They all quickly ran over there to see the same man from yesterday, now known to be the Ryanban's son, and some of his men tearing up anything they could get their hands on as a woman and elder man could only watch helplessly as they destroyed their store.

"Your store hasn't paid the Ryanban's tax!" he accused them.

"My father is old and sick! A sick elder needs his medicine! All I ask is wait a little bit longer, please!"

the woman pleaded, but it had no effect on him.

"No more waiting! You'll pay all the taxes in full now!"

"We can't! You're charging twenty times than what the last Ryanban charged! There's no way we can pay that!"

"Than your old man is going to feel my whip! One hundred lashes!" he shouted as he took out a whip and prepared to unleash it on the older man.

"NO!" the woman used her body to shield her father.

"STOP IT!" Chu'nyan yelled as Sakura and Maria rushed towards them to protect them from the whip as it descended upon them.

"CHAOS SPEAR!" Shadow unleashed several Chaos Spears at the Ryanban's son, though he was startled enough from the Chaos Spear's sudden appearance to back off enough a direct hit, the whip missed them as Syaoran jumped up and landed on the man with his foot in his face as he wrapped the whip around his arm.

"You're the bastard from yesterday!" he growled at Syaoran. "Get out of my way!"

"I will not!" Syaoran said as he refused to let go of the whip or remove his foot from his face.

"Do you really want to know just how terrifying the Ryanban of Ryonfi can be?!" Shadow couldn't help but let out a dark chuckle when he heard this. Even though Syaoran's foot was still in his face he still managed to glare at Shadow. "Who do you think you're laughing at you little freak?!"

"I'm laughing at a weak and pathetic coward, that's who," Shadow replied with his own glare. "You act all superior, bragging about the power of the Ryanban while possessing none of your own. You're not the Ryanban only his son and even then you're nothing but a weak, pathetic, coward who gets his kicks out of tormenting the very people the Ryanban is suppose to lead and protect."

"Shadow?" he heard Maria say as Syaoran looked back at him with a surprised yet curious expression.

"I'm may not have been here long but I've been here long enough to know that your father is an sad excuse of a human who uses his position and power to terrorize, use, and hurt the people of this town. You're no better; you march around town attacking anyone who is unfortunate enough to cross your path because you know they can't defend themselves without receiving "punishment". You're just a sick, cowardly, child who hides behind his daddy's power and that's the only thing that's protecting you for you have no real power of your own." the Ryanban's son shook in anger as he glared at Shadow who only intensified his own glare to where his pupils seemed to almost disappear to point where only blood colored orbs now stared him down. His anger was quickly replaced with fear from the blood colored eyes that seemed to stare right into his very core.

"SH-SHUT UP!" he screamed as he fling his arm back, forcing Syaoran to jump back next to Shadow, as he pulled out a large fan. He waved the fan and to their shock an armored solider appeared from the fan.

"I know that fan!" Chu'nyan shouted as the solider charged at Syaoran and Shadow, as they fought Chu'nyan explained how all this came to be. "That's my mother's fan! As a Shinban, my mother could use the secret arts. People would come to ask her for medicine or cast charms, she had some wonderful powers. But she would never use her powers for bad purposes, she had pride in her job as a Shinban. But that creep and his father...They were just wandering Shinban that came to town a year ago! They didn't have any special powers, but they suddenly became very powerful! They chased the old Ryanban out of town and set themselves as the new Ryanban in his place! My mother fought trying to stop them. AND THE RYANBAN MURDERED HER!"

With a fierce round house kick from Syaoran, the soldier was knocked back giving Shadow the chance to land the fatal blow on his head. It started to turn into mist and for a moment Shadow thought it was over, but instead of disappearing the mist multiplied and instead of one solider there was now eight. They surrounded Syaoran and Shadow before charging all at once.

"WATCH OUT!" Shadow only scoffed at this new development.

"There's no strength in numbers!" Shadow said with a smirk as he and Syaoran attacked. Syaoran unleashed a chain attack of kicks on four soldiers while Shadow Spin Dashed through the other half, destroying the soldiers for good this time.

"THEY DID IT!" Chu'nyan cheered.

"Don't let that go to you head!" the man yelled as he went into a temper tantrum. Shadow whipped his head towards him, when he saw that Shadow's and Syaoran's attention were now on him he stopped in his tracks. Shadow started to head towards him but before he could even take a step the wind suddenly picked up.

"I know that sound." Chu'nyan said. Shadow recognized this wind to and realized what was about to happen. "THE WIND IS COMING!" Shadow managed to jump back in time to avoid the cyclone but Syaoran wasn't quick enough. The cyclone hit Syaoran head on before tossing him through the air.

"SYAORAN!" Sakura cried. Syaoran fall to the ground but managed to land on his feet. Shadow, Sakura, and Maria rushed over to him. Shadow saw that he suffered a cut on his forehead that was bleeding badly, but didn't appear to be deep, and he was breathing heavily from having the wind knocked out of him but had no serious injuries.

"You get it now!? THIS IS THE POWER OF THE RYANBAN!" the Ryanban's son said as he stood proud over an attack that he didn't even do. Shadow growled and started to walk towards him again, his smug grin was instantly replaced with fear as he took a step back, but Shadow suddenly stopped. He stood still for a few seconds before collapsing.

"SHADOW!" Maria cried out as she rushed to his side. He manged to stop himself from landing on his face, but otherwise couldn't get back up.

"Dam it! I used too much energy." Shadow swore under his breath. Once the Ryanban's son realized that Shadow wasn't able to come after him anymore, he smirked.

"YOU SEE?! NOTHING CAN STOP THE RYANBAN!" Shadow growled as he glared at him once more and was pleased to see that smirk once again disappear.

"You have to call your daddy when you're losing a fight?! You're the worst excuse for a family I've ever seen!" countered Chu'nyan as she moved in front of Shadow and the others.

_'Couldn't have said it better myself.'_ out of the corner of his eye he saw Syaoran had gotten up and stood beside him. While he still held a protective arm in front of Sakura, he also stood protectively besides him and Maria, despite his injuries. _'Syaoran? What are you-'_

"Just shut up! If you don't like it, then go ahead and try to beat my father Chu'nyan! But you can't! Why? Because you can't touch him!"

"Yap all you want! When the Amen'osa come, all the evil things you've been doing will be judged and you'll be punished!"

"They'll never come!" he said with that grin smirk before turning back to the woman and her father. "As punishment for your resistance, your tax is doubled!"

"You can't-" she tried to protest.

"If you don't pay, your store will be confiscated and both you and the old man will receive three hundred lashes!" woman wept as he left with his men, laughing the entire way. Shadow tried to form a Chaos Spear just to shut him up, but Maria grabbed his hand.

"Don't." He didn't resist, as much as he hated to admit it, he was too weak right now to do anything. Chu'nyan fell to her knees before letting out a scream of pure frustration and anger.

The door to Chu'nyan's house opened, Fai turned from the board game he and Kurogane were playing to the arrivals.

"Welcome home! How did everything go?" he and Kurogane then noticed the grim atmosphere around them. Sakura and Mokona had sad expressions, Syaoran's cut had stopped bleeding but the blood was still there, Maria was supporting Shadow who lacked the energy to stand by himself, and Chu'nyan hanged her head. "Is something wrong?" their silence was all the answer Fai needed. "I guess something is wrong."

As Chu'nyan told them of their encounter with the Ryanban's son, Sakura treated Syaoran's injuries while Maria helped Shadow sit up against the wall so he could rest yet still be part of the conversation.

"I see, you were defeated by the wind of the this Ryanban again." Fai said once she had finished.

"But if the Ryanban is this bad why haven't you risen up against him?" Kurogane asked.

"We did try, so many times. But we can't even lay a finger on the Ryanban. The castle has some kind of magic around it, so no one can get close."

"That makes sense, and it would match up with the weird power that Mokona sensed," said Fai

"With all the weird magic around, Mokona can't tell if there is a power wave from the feather or not." Mokona said.

"What about that son of his? Have you considered holding him hostage or something?" Fai suggested causing the others to look at him in shock since he of all people came up with it.

_'Who knew the wizard had it in him.'_

"I'd say that ideal is a bit late," commented Kurogane.

"We can't!" Chu'nyan admitted. "The Ryanban uses magic to watch every part of town, if anything happens to the son." she didn't finish for they already experience what happens if anyone tried to hurt the son.

"You'll get hit with a magical attack, it's like what happened with Syaoran yesterday again today with along with Shadow." Fai concluded. "You said that the Ryanban suddenly got stronger about a year ago. I wonder if it has anything to do with Sakura's feathers?" Syaoran's and Shadow's attention immediately picked up when they heard that.

"But that doesn't add up. It was only a short time ago that the feathers were scattered across the worlds." Kurogane argue.

"It's still possible. A group of people I met was once accidentally sent to another dimension though eventually they were able to return to their home world. Later a friend they made there came to their world but he said that six years had passed in his world since they left while for them it's been six months since they returned. From that they concluded that time flows differently in other dimensions." Shadow explained. Suddenly Syaoran stood up.

"I'll go check to see if the Ryanban has a feather or not," he said.

"Wait!" Sakura grabbed his sleeve to stop him. "Syaoran you're hurt!

"I'm fine."

"But."

"Everything will be okay, if there's a feather I'll get it back for you."

"Syaoran." before Sakura could say anything else Fai interrupted.

"Just a moment. Don't worry, you can relax, I'm not gonna try and stop you. It's just the Ryanban's magic is pretty strong. If you simply try to walk right in, you'll never succeed. At the very least, you'll need enough power to create an entrance to the castle.

_'If I had a Chaos Emerald I could get in there no problem and end this.'_

"So can you do something about it?" Maria asked.

"Impossible!" he replied cheerful as the others nearly fell over hearing that.

"Quit pretending you have a plan when you don't!" yelled Kurogane.

"Mokona will ask!" she said. Suddenly the gem on her forehead glowed before projecting a light that formed into a circle than an image appeared and cleared up to where they could now see Yuko.

"Ah? Mokona, what's up?" she said as she turned to them. Needless to say everyone was shock at this. Shadow, Syaoran, Maria, and Sakura stared in dumbfounded shock while Chu'nyan cling to Sakura, freaking out.

"IT TALKED!"

"Mokona sure is convenient at times." Fai said.

"There are limits to how convenient things should be!" argued Kurogane.

Once everyone calmed down they explained their situation and why they were calling her.

"I see. So you have to break the magic, if that's what it is, to enter the castle?" she summed up what they needed to do.

"Yes," replied Maria.

"Why would you need to contact me? Fai can use magic can't he?"

"I handed the source of my magic over to you," Fai said.

_'That's not right, he gave up his tattoo markings, not his magic.'_

"The markings that made up your payment was a device that held your magic power in check. Your magic was now what it was originally meant to be."

"Be that as it may, without those markings who could expect you to be able to wield your magic?"

_'That doesn't make sense. My inhibitor rings work the same way his markings did but even without them I can still use my Chaos powers and even use far more of it, though it does exhaust me as a result. He's hiding something else.'_ Shadow saw that he wasn't the only one who though that; Syaoran, Kurogane, and Marai was looking at Fai with the same thoughtful expressions. If Fai noticed he didn't show it.

"Fine. I'll hand over something that will help break the magic surrounding the castle. But I expect payment in return."

"But we don't have anything to give you," protested Syaoran.

"We have to hand something over or else we're on our own," Maria said. Fai came over with his staff.

"Will this do?"

"That will do, send it through Mokona."

"Here goes." Fai pointed his staff at Mokona opened up her mouth to an impossible length as she swallowed the staff whole. Chu'nyan freaked out once more at this sight, even Shadow was a little freaked out to see this. Mokona's eyes opened up before spitting out a small sphere, which Syaoran caught.

"This will defeat the castle's magic?" Syaoran said. As Yuko said goodbye Shadow's thoughts wandered to back he had being thinking about earlier.

_'The Ryanban's magic was increased suddenly. If the Ryanban has a feather and can use it to create strong magic, would it be possible that he has the power take memories too?'_


End file.
